The Motivations of Jakarta food reviewers in generating online food reviews
The widespread adaptation of the Internet by the global population has resulted to the flourishing of user-generated contents. The power to publish is no longer the sole monopoly of large publishing companies but has become a capability for individuals connected to the Internet, who are now able to publish their own contents using the various platforms offerred. These so- called netizens may post varied topics according to their interest including culinary matters such as food recipes and reviews of food outlets. These self- publications are disseminated freely on the Internet and the netizens may publish through the many free social media accounts or through their own paid-domains. The purpose of this paper is to determine the motivations of why these netizens become food reviewers and the implications to them as individuals. This research uses in-depth interviews to eight food reviewers based in Jakarta who published their reviews through their own blogs. The result shows that the motivations include: to provide free information, to use blogging as a communication outlet, to entertain themselves through blogging, for self-development, for networking and socializing, to present their virtual self- image, to document their life experiences, to blog because they are inspired by others, and to enhance their career. It also found that there are 8 different implications to the individual reviewers that resulted from doing the food reviews, including that it enhances their skills, it gives them acknowledgement from the food industry, it gives them pleasure by contributing their reviews to the public domain, it increases their popularity, it enhances their career, it allows them to gain more money, and it allows them to gain more friends. Aside from the positive implications, one negative implication was found where the reviewers become too obsessed or addicted to work on their blogs to the point of neglecting their daily activities and environment.
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