Abstract
Vitality is often defined as having both physical and
mental energy: it is a subjective feeling of aliveness
that arises from feelings of freedom, autonomy support,
and intrinsic motivation. (Ryan & Frederick 1997) When
people are in vital states, they are strong, active and
productive and cope better with stress and challenge. In
Eastern traditions vitality is related to source of
energy, source of life, creativity, right action and
harmony. Arising from Eastern tradition, there are
numerous practices increasing vital energies such as
acupuncture, reiki, yoga and herbal treatments. In Japan,
the concept of Ki, energy and power, which one can draw
to oneself, relates to physical, mental and spiritual
health. (Ryan & Frederick 1997) In this paper, we study
how the business of vitality is created in social media
and blogs. More in detail, we study what consumers are
exposed to when they search for vitality in blogs. We
analyse how vitality is represented and created in the
blogs to understand the cultural context of vitality. A
qualitative netnographic analysis (see Kozinets 2010) was
conducted of the twelve most popular Finnish well-being
and mentality blogs in 2015. According to the analysis,
there were no significant differences between company and
private person's blogs regarding the vitality content.
Both categories included marketing and promotions of
products or services. Mentality blogs emphasized both
internal and external processes; observing and focusing
on one's mind and managing relationships with others.
Well-being blogs represented vitality as a goal one
reaches through effective training, right kind of
nutrition and self-discipline but also a wide range of
mental and social aspects were represented. One important
indicator of vitality in well being blogs is athlete
appearance; fit and trained body, which was represented
through wide-ranging image material in the blogs.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Proceedings of ECSM2016 |
Pages | 258- |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
MoE publication type | A4 Article in a conference publication |
Event | 3rd European Conference on Social Media, ECSM2016 - Caen, France Duration: 12 Jul 2016 → 13 Jul 2016 |
Conference
Conference | 3rd European Conference on Social Media, ECSM2016 |
---|---|
Abbreviated title | ECSM2016 |
Country/Territory | France |
City | Caen |
Period | 12/07/16 → 13/07/16 |
Keywords
- vitality
- well-being
- netnography
- blogs