How Transparent is Too Transparent?
October 11, 2009 by Deb
Filed under Thoughts and Stuff
I dig transparency. I like when bloggers let me know they’re being paid to talk about something and I think it’s a good idea when businesses don’t try and gloss over the bad stuff to only paint a rosy picture. Because I think it’s important to be transparent, I discuss many details here that many bloggers don’t. I wonder though, is there such a thing as being too transparent?
Giving out important details is one thing. It’s important not to sweep something under the rug or keep it from the public eye because it may lead to bad publicity. Where do we cross the line from transparency into too much information? For example, If my phone or cable company is about to go belly up, I don’t want surprises. I want to know about any dealings or discourse because I’m paying for service and I want the option of being able to take my business elsewhere rather than enduring an abrupt loss of service. However, I don’t think it’s my business if David Letterman is cheating on his wife and don’t feel public apologies for private matters are necessary.
Sometimes I think we’ve moved beyond the “information age” into the “too much information age.”
I’ll always be honest with you here. You know when I’m paid by a sponsor because my blog posts will clearly state who is paying me. You also know I feel I have too many ads here but they pay the bills so we’re stuck with them for a while. I also do my best to let you know how things are running here, if there’s going to be any down time, if job leads are late and other good stuff. I won’t tell you private family business or what is being said in my monthly memos to the bloggers at this network. If it affects you, I’m always honest. If it affects me, I’ll probably talk about it. If it affects my loved ones, it’s none of your business.
I’m all for disclosure and transparency, but I think some people are taking it too far. What do you think, is there such a thing as being too transparent?
I believe there is a certain limit for everything- too much is abusing. When people are fed with too much information they tend get more curious and hungrier with the truth behind things, I guess everybody likes private stories. Yet, when it comes to profession and business, transparency is good to be practiced. It’s way where you can establish trust among the people you deal with. I really admire people who are honest with their business; they are the ones who stay longer.
I am going the John Chow/Shoemoney route and declaring my “evil, money grubbing intentions” right up front.
This has a pleasant side effect of weeding out 2 kinds of people: 1. the humor impaired, and 2. the professionally disgruntled.
I write about WordPress. The market is really big. I’m not worried about it.
Rock on.
I agree. Honesty is important, as is distinguishing the the difference between honestly and sharing too much personal information. Sometimes personal details are relevant, interesting, or even the topic you write about, that is acceptable and often desirable, but it is important to know when you are sharing things people don’t necessarily want or need to know.
Writers need appropriate boundaries for healthy relationships just like everyone else. When drawing those boundaries one of the key questions to ask is “Will it be helpful to the reader?” A second question is “Will this harm someone else?”
My grandmother used to tell this story:
Mabel was a woman who always had a kind word for everyone. One day her best friend said, “Mabel, you never say anything bad about anyone. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if you said something nice about the devil himself.”
“Well,” replied Mabel, “You have to admit: he certainly is industrious.”
I was glad to see the ruling that bloggers had to acknowledge paid product endorsements. The worst thing is to read an “impartial” review only to find out someone way paid for it.
There is too much information, but the problem is more with too much bad information.
I’m all for openness but I’ve actually written an article for my blog (going up in a few hours) about my distaste of what the idea of “radical transparency” could become. I’m worried that in a few years it could be considered normal to let our “followers” know where we are via GPS, or have live streams constantly running at our work stations.
Yes, I realise how paranoid that sounds, but people are becoming increasingly open with what part of their lives they share.
With the transparency issue, it depends what’s being revealed. There’s a big difference between admitting you got paid to review a book or product, versus going into the details of your divorce or separation. In the last few months, 2 of the bloggers I follow posted rather detailed accounts of their marital difficulties and subsequent separations. I felt like it was more than I needed to know, and didn’t quite “get” it. But then again, I am a writer, so I know that writing is cathartic, or can be. Bloggers are writers, so maybe it’s a form of therapy or cleansing to communicate about some of life’s more difficult challenges, whether the audience is into it or not.
I draw the line at sharing too-personal information with my readers – I’m happy to teach, I’m happy to help but my personal life my own.
I live by the TMI and Need to Know rules of transparency. You can’t adopt a buzzword and disengage your ability to think. If I’m writing about some gizmo and got a demo for free from the company, I think readers should know. If I’m writing about some gizmo and launch into a rant about some personal fanaticism of mine, the TMI and Need to Know rule comes into play. Transparency, like so much of blogging, has been turned on its ear, become a marketing gimmick and often is so broad as to be nonsensical.
As I see it, “transparent” becomes “too transparent” when you cross the line that keeps–or at least is supposed to keep–professional and private issues apart. The example you mentioned is perfect. Private matters are just that–private.