Abusing bloggers

I read a post on The Social Times written by Anthony LaFauce about how bloggers are being given a double standard and the ongoing debate about its legitimization. This brought back an interesting conversation that I had with my friend Juliana about how credible bloggers are. So let’s examine this for a second…

In the blogging world, there are two types of bloggers. There are professional bloggers who write as full-time jobs, seen as subject matter experts, and have built up a reputation within the industry of having distinct knowledge of what’s going on. On the other hand, there are personal and amateur bloggers who simply started up a blog to get their thoughts out into the void. That’s where I would fall in with this blog and also my personal blog. Don’t get me wrong, I believe I am an intelligent guy who knows a thing or two and can speak intelligently about the industry trends, but in no way do I think that my advice here would be construed as being an expert. That reputation needs to be amassed over the course of time.

But when it comes down to it, you’ll need to judge a book on its content and not just its cover. Let’s look at credibility for a second. In the Social Times blog post, Anthony writes:

“...This comes up because I spent the morning arguing points on media with a friend of mine who cited a blogger. When I asked what was the blogger’s background my friend was unable to answer. Doing a ChaCha (242242 from my cell) I found out that the blogger was actually high school student from New York City…

I remember when I was doing research for papers in college that the one thing to consider when pulling information off of website is to figure out how credible they are. Would you cite information from TMZ on world politics or would you look at CNN? So the same thing goes with blogs. Many organizations are starting to take bloggers seriously, but you just can’t offer a blanket stereotype. You’re not going to have an amateur blogger who writes about their day, the drama going on in school, or the latest music scene track what’s going on at the Democratic Natinonal Convention, are you? That would be absurd. Professional bloggers are those that can attract the audience to your site to get your point of view & review across.

I don’t think that having a blog pass would be a really beneficial thing (sorry Anthony), but it should not be assumed that if you’re a blogger that you’re going to get the respect that you think you deserve. Traditional journalists are often sought out and have no problems in getting the scoop, but please keep in mind that bloggers are reputable as well. Why should we be considered the step-brother of journalists. Isn’t writing an intelligent and well-thought story on some media the point? Instead of pen-to-paper, it’s hand-to-keyboard. So let’s no label bloggers as irrelevant. Just like with any media, bloggers and people need to remember to be selective in your sources. Find the ones that are credible and that’s your key.

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