Reading through a book by David Meerman Scott (The New Rules of Marketing), I was intrigued by his statements about how we should perceive information found in blogs. In fact, he suggests looking at the web, not as a "sprawling newspaper" which would imply the same sort of balance and/or research and verification expected of journalists, but as a city.  Blogs are the voices of all the individual people in that city. It doesn't mean that the information found in blogs is never true, but you, as the reader, are responsible for determining the information's accuracy and the blog's authoritativeness on a certain subject.

Quite simply: take what you read in a blog with a grain of salt. And don't think bloggers are the same as journalists. A blogger is not expected to follow requirements of journalism where balance and information verification is expected, if not always received. This doesn't mean that what you find in a blog is false, it means that there is likely a slant, an agenda, which will inform the way it is written.

Now, I think if a blog wants to be taken as an authority, that what is found in them should be factual, although it may be presented with some spin. I hope that the person writing really is knowledgable about the subject of the blog. I would want blog writers to cite where the information came from if  they are not an expert in a particular area. As with anything, I think promoting accuracy in blogs people read for information is a necessity to maintain trust.

In this blog, if I post information from another source, I cite the source in some way. If I have direct experience, I will say how I came by it. I want this blog to be a trusted source of information on customer service and support, knowledge management, self service, and on-demand customer support practices and software. I think the majority of industry related blogs attempt to maintain accuracy and trust.

But, as Mr. Scott pointed out, blogs are not journalism. They may have good information about certain topics, but they should also be read with some scepticism if the information presented as fact cannot be easily verified. As a reader, you need to think about whether the information you read in a blog makes sense. As a blogger, it behooves you to maintain transparency, just as those who review products and services in a blog are now required to disclose information about the source of the product and whether they are being compensated for writing a positive review.

If you run a business, however, whether you think blogs are important and authoritative or not, you need to take them seriously. Bloggers with influence can certainly disrupt your business with negative information. You need to make certain you are aware of this possibility and to monitor what is being said about your business around the City of the Web. You need to be ready to counter claims, apologize and compensate quickly, or to try to have a conversation with people through the social media. A blogger's opinion can be the thing between you and a potential customer. And just because you now know to look at blogs with a tiny, little bit of a jaundiced eye on some occasions, it does not follow that your potential customer will do so. 

This is true of most social media. These ways of communicating were not developed to be another form of journalism. They were developed to help people communicate more easily, no matter the hour of day or place on the globe. But as buying habits are more influenced by those individual voices, you cannot afford to ignore any source that can influence your business.

So....should we trust blogs? We must put them through the same filters we use to determine the accuracy of any other periodical. Do you take celebity gossip papers as seriously as your daily newspaper? If you read a blog that appears to be ranting or gushing about a product or service, do you feel as if the information is as solid as a more balanced sounding post? In other words, not all blogs are alike, not all blogs are accurate, not all blogs are false.

As a blog reader, you need to determine which is which.

As a business owner, you need to be aware of these possibilities and be prepared to act, whether the information being put out there about you is true or not, regardless of the authority of the blogger.

As a blog writer, you must decide how you want your posts to be perceived.