What makes a blog / blogger trusted? It's an interesting question and one that was brought to my attention earlier today.
Is it social media views? Does 2 million views on G+ make you trusted as a blogger? Damned if I know, and I'm at over 20 million.
Does 2m views make "Somebody One Of The Most Trusted RPG Bloggers on Social Media"? That would make me infallible in comparison.
Views on G+ and likes on Facebook mean nothing.
Build a community. Allow yourself to be challenged by that community. Be as honest and true true to yourself as you can be. Earn respect and trust should follow.
Hell, 20 million views on G+ is nothing in the larger scheme of things, and I can easily count off multiple members of my Saturday Night gaming group that have more that 2.5 million views on G+ that also blog and I don't trust them ;)
Well, I trust them depending on the circumstances :)
edit: (the tag line I mention above is actually on a RPG blog - I just find the assumption of what views on G+ coverts to to be - inaccurate at best)
Picturing Solo History
-
There are many gamers who will tell you that it was *Vampire the Masquerade*
that got them into roleplaying. That was in the 1990s. There are many
gamers ...
1 hour ago
For me it's content. I don't care how popular or unpopular a blogger is. I don't really care how many fans they have on FB or Twitter, though a lot of chatter might lead me over to their blog in the first place.
ReplyDeleteOnce I find a blog though, is the content interesting and unique? Most importantly though, for earning my 'trust', as in "I'll value this guy's reviews and opinions on products and the industry", they just need to be hones.
Honesty is easy. Tell us when you don't like something as well as when you do. In the old school and OSR commu, I see a lot of blogs with decent content and decent reputations that I rarely visit because they are hell bent on never criticizing anyone (except maybe Lorraine Williams and Wizards of the Coast, even the nice guys can hate on them :P ). The more popular, trendy, whatever a person or product is, the worse the butt kissing is. Just look around and let me know how long it takes to find a blog post that criticizes DCC, or its publisher. Or D&D5e. Or GaryCon. Etc. Be honest and fair, everyone has at least one minor bit of their favorite game/designer/company/event/whatever that they dislike. Telling me that along with the parts you love makes me a lit more likely to take you seriously.
The whole idea of "social media views" = trust doesn't make sense. As I've been know to post first, be political second (or never) I never know how these mini rants will play out.
ReplyDeleteI respect the blogger who has the above tag line on their blog, but I don't agree with the tag line in the least.
The reasons to trust a blog / blogger are many (as are the reasons to NOT trust a blog blogger) but social media views are not one of them. And even if there were part of the equation, pointing to them and saying "look at me" is certainly not the way to pull it off.
I think I know which blog you mean. Having read the Comments Policy where my comments are likely to get edited then forget it. If you can trust me in my raw unfiltered form then why should I extend the same trust to you?
DeleteI wonder whom... ;)
DeleteOkay...a challenge. Create a dnd game module. Art, maps, content. Beta test it with the first ten Dungeon Masters who make that skweee! Noise you hate. Flog it (aussie for sell it) through wotc's dungeon masters guild...oh sorry you were talking about a different kind of challenge...like where darth vader throws the emperor down a well.
ReplyDeleteI don't trust you Erik because you post these fascinating but oblique references to other blogs/events online without links so I only get the vague end-scrapings of whatever the hell is going on. Naw, in you I trust, but it's like you said: community is what matters, and I'd say consistency of vision as well. I'm not sure how one wouldn't "trust" any blog for the most part....with a few exceptions all blogs tend to be an output of interest/creativity for the blogger, and that can include a preferred agenda. You need only identify that agenda and focus to decide where the blogger fits in to your own scheme, and that's pretty much all there is to it. In other words: don't read an OSR blog and get mad because it doesn't talk Pathfinder up. Don't read Points of Light and get mad because it craps on every edition of D&D that isn't Dungeonworld themed. Don't read Tenkar's Tavern and get pissed because Erik likes White Star. Easy to figure out. Honesty in this case is being honest enough with ourselves to realize that a blog that isn't about "our thing" doesn't make it a dishonest blog.
ReplyDeleteI could be totally off-base on this though because I have no frame of reference for what started this (ahem).
Trust no one. The truth is out there. I want to believe.
ReplyDeleteI've found that anyone who has to say "You can trust me" isn't the sort of person you want to trust.
ReplyDeleteDoes the information jive with my experience? So, a blogger who's selling Amway isn't to be trusted, because the sale is never about the product, it's about recruitment. Someone who posts "XYZ is the greatest candidate ever!" when that candidate is under investigation for cheating on his taxes and burning down an orphanage isn't to be trusted.
There's a game reviewer who I no longer trust because when I purchased a product based on her review, I found the product worthless. There's another game reviewer who's reviews have been consistent with what I've found, so I will buy a product based on his reviews.