I spent a lot of time between last night and now thinking about trust and how we trust certain authors, bloggers, writers and online personalities. It’s easy to build a blog, it’s not easy to build trust. When someone you trust to present accurate information edits information to serve her puproses or otherwise does something to betray that trust, it’s like a knife in the back to that blog’s community.
As bloggers we can write anything we want, really. Sure now we have to throw in some disclaimers, but the sky is the limit. We can trash people on our blogs. We can offer glowing reviews of products we’re paid to talk about. We can be “experts” and “gurus” and say anything even if it’s rather…embellished. The good bloggers, the ones who truly get it, talk from the heart but also present an accurate assessment. Not an edited assessment but an accurate assessment. How do blog readers know this is happening? How do you know teachings and online reports are accurate?
What if an online personality who I trust to be fair and balanced writes an extremely unbalanced piece – because balance wouldn’t suit his purpose? Will that mean I have been following bad advice all along? Do I trust this person as an authority now that I know he leaves out key details and facts? What about all his other reports and bits of news, how can I trust that information? You see, when I find interesting research from another blogger, I like to share it here with you. Now I wonder, what if I’m sharing bad information? Now this other blogger who caused me not to trust him, also may cause my readers not to trust me because I recommend him so often.When trust breaks it’s like a domino effect.
I hope I’m making sense. I’m jet lagged and exhausted and have lots of stuff running through my mind. I think about trust a lot. I work hard at not betraying this community’s trust.
Do you feel you, as blog readers, put too much trust into your favorite bloggers? For example, if I was to endorse a service or knock a certain group, would you take everything I said as the Gospel, or would you do your own research and make your own decisions? While I always do my best to present all sides of a story, how do you, the reader, know it’s true? Trust is an important responsibility. What happens if you learn a favorite writer or blogger abuses your trust – do you take it personally?
Discuss…
If you endorsed something (say wordpress vs. blogger or the other way around), of which I have no or few other reference points, I would likely follow-up with a lot of questions if it was something I was truly interested in. I may seek out a second source, if readily available. If you told me a person was good in a particular area (i.e., PR placement), I would consider that endorsement heavily, but would still communicate with the person myself.
Endorsements are great, but independent confirmation is important.
Basic rule of journalism: “If your mother says she loves you, confirm that with another source.”
The problem is when other reliable sources can’t be found.
If someone abuses my trust, which I don’t grant easily, they are persona non grata forever.
I usually do my own research and take everything anyone says with a grain of salt. I take what I can use and toss out the rest if it doesn’t jive with my research or personal beliefs. That doesn’t mean I won’t consider what’s been said – I do – but I think it’s inadvisable to trust blindly on the internet.
Back in the days when I worked as a fulltime journo, I used to get very upset when I attended seminars and/conferences and i’d see someone blindly quote an article or report I did. I did my best to present accurate info, and my readers trusted me to do so. Nonetheless, sometimes I missed a tiny detail that had vast implications in the first drafts, and needed trusted sources to catch it. And because I knew I was capable of missing something important, I firmly believed that I had a responsibility to double check my facts, and my readers had an equally big responsibility to do their own research and not just take my word for something.
I also learnt that most sources of information have an agenda. An advocacy group would give me a certain viewpoint, because they want to push for change. They don’t exclude certain information because they are lying. It may just happen that they don’t think the info has enough relevance/impact for them to change their viewpoint.
And an analyst would try to be balanced, and present some researched facts. Still, I learnt pretty quickly that they too have their own biases based on a number of factors.
Even confidential sources who give you leads for breaking news stories would have an agenda- a disgruntled employee who wants to create problems for an employer; a former client who feels cheated over a deal; eevn a scorned lover sometimes dished out biz info to get even with their partner. Writing the story, I’d start out with the most explosive, controversial aspect of the story and move on from there…
So no, I don’t think the media, or any blogger or online personality tells me the whole truth. I think many of us present information that is shaded by our biases and as a reader,it’s my responsibility to understand this and search other sources of information before I make an important decision.
I work for Edelman and the topic of trust is very near and dear to us as we put out the annual Trust Barometer, a study of the topic each year. Interestingly, in the last 2-3 years, bloggers have been one of the least trusted groups identified by the study, even though social media is considered important to a communicators arsenal.
Trust is important — online and offline.
Bloggers, however we trust them, still have their own sets of biases and prejudice. As a reader, I usually research on more information.
Sure, trust is hard to build. You may have your own blog, but do you even have readers who read it, or trust you for that matter? But if my favorite blogger would abuse that, then my trust gets less.
I don’t think I put too much trust into our favorite bloggers. I’d do my own research and make my own decisions. In god we trust – all others must bring data. So abuse of trust doesn’t come into it, but if I spot a blogger reposting garbage too often, I’ll probably unsubscribe.
I like the mention of the Basic rule of journalism in the comments above – it’s a dying art! See http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/14/starsuckers-tabloids-hoax-celebrities
There are risks when we trust others, maybe that’s the reason why it is difficult to obtain it. Trust is a subjective decision, and we have different levels of standards when trusting a person. I believe nothing is absolute, so sooner or later, there would be an end to everything. I guess we should be prepared enough to face the consequences of our actions.
I have my own reasons why I trust a blogger. I’m pretty selective with the things I believe in. In the long run, I won’t get frustrated if I found out some anomaly over him.
The question isn’t whether I trust someone, but how much I trust that person and in which areas. Good experiences with a person will raise my level of comfort and trust. Lies and errors will reduce it. Lie to me and your trust index will drop like a stone. Mess up and I’ll probably check a little closer next time before taking your advice. Get little things right consistently and I’ll trust you with something bigger.
Talk about a sensitive topic.
What seems to be trust-breaking for some people may be acceptable to others. I, for instance, don’t mind undisclosed product reviews, as I’m naturally skeptic and don’t believe everything I read. But I know many others feel differently, and I understand their reasons.
I believe blog readers should never trust anyone blindly. After all, bloggers are human, thus they have flaws like anyone else.
You make an interesting point and I suppose it depends on how the information is presented and what type of blog (for example) it is. For instance, business blogs presumedly present factual information on specific topics. On the other hand many blogs are personal or opinion blogs – and it is the person’s opinion that the reader likes and the blogger is presenting. I know of few bloggers who promote their opinions as truth. I do however, know of a few who focus so specifically on one point that there appears to be no other facts in the matter, which yes, I’d have to say is dishonest.
As for bloggers who make a habit of trashing others, I think their appeal is largely shock value and though there is an audience for it – I don’t think someone looking for facts is going to visit such blogs more than once.
In the end, any writer who has a website or blog should write truthfully, whether it is a personal truth, a true opinion/view or in presenting facts. Readers aren’t dummies, they know when you are faking it.
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