April 30th, 2008
Why people don’t trust “bloggers”
by Joshua Porter | 
17 Comments | shortlink: http://bokardo.com/p/762
Jeremiah Owyang claims that people don’t trust bloggers. To back up this claim, he cites three market research studies showing that when given a choice, people would choose to listen to their friends and family rather than “bloggers”.
The three studies were done by respected marketing research companies: Forrester, Edelman, and Pollara. They all agree on the same thing: that bloggers just don’t elicit much trust when compared to other sources of information.
I can’t help but think that these studies weighted the questions…oh just a little bit. I mean, who would trust someone based solely on the fact that they happen to write a blog? Does merely creating a blogger account and whipping out a few blog posts make one a trusted authority on…anything? Of course not.
It’s kind of like asking: “Who do you trust more: a family member or someone who can use wordpress?”. The question just doesn’t teach us anything new. So the reason why people don’t trust “bloggers” in the context of these studies is because they don’t know who those bloggers are.
Now, Jeremiah’s point was to push back on the unfortunate conventional wisdom that merely writing a blog means you’re having an authentic conversation with an audience. This focus on technology over interaction is the problem with social media marketing, and Jeremiah was right to push back on that. But I don’t believe that bloggers don’t have trust. Of course bloggers have some level of trust. The people who trust them are their audience. (I’m sure Jeremiah sure hopes that his audience trusts him)
So, if instead of asking a meaningless question these studies asked “Do you trust bloggers who you read regularly/subscribe to?” most people would answer that they do. But that’s not what the studies asked…they asked about a faceless, nameless, random blogger. Not only is this a poor question, but it puts the entire studies under a shadow of doubt. It’s almost as if the question were asked just so that the researchers could come to that conclusion.
What bloggers don’t have, and what the studies might show, is automatic trust. Joe Blogger doesn’t automatically have permission to talk to you simply because he knows how to use Wordpress. Blogging is about relationships, like most of life, and you need to earn any respect and permission you get.
There are few shortcuts here. But let’s not swing the pendulum completely the other way and suggest that bloggers aren’t trusted at all. The reality is that you have to prove yourself with each action, over time, building up trust and experience slowly, steadily. If it were any other way, then the word trust wouldn’t mean anything.
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Comments
1. Karina 3:14pm, Wed 30th, 2008
I can’t believe that, judging from Jeremiah’s Forrester Research survey, people trust the media that are financially dependent on adverts more than a known expert. What is this? Ignorance? Scary.
2. Silviu 3:52pm, Wed 30th, 2008
I trust bloggers. But not random bloggers. Your article is on spot.
If you are on my RSS list and recommend a software, you bet I’ll give it a try!
Friends and family? Overrated. When it comes to a topic regarding Apple should I trust Gruber or my brother?
3. Tony T 4:07pm, Wed 30th, 2008
Agreed with your comments. Theres nothing worse than skewed studies as people (investors.execs) tend to trust their conclusions.
BTW Good luck on your book! Your posts here are great and helpful.
4. Jonathan 3:29am, Thu 1st, 2008
This is a libellous statement, so I would advise you not to post what I’m about to say.
Forrester’s business model is to sell out. They can’t make enough money by making and selling just research – so they sell whatever the highest bidder tells them to say. I know this because I worked for a company where our CEO basically bribed them to put out a “study” that made us come out top compared to our competitors. They were remarkably compliant.
5. Karin 4:49am, Tue 6th, 2008
Well, yes and no. I prefer to see the study from the perspective of somebody researching a topic in google and getting results from traditional media and bloggers (that they probably do not know and thus not read). Who is more likely to appear trustworthy to that researcher? A traditional publication one knows or the possible “ramblings” of a person? On first sight the answer must be traditional media outlets. Lets not forget that people want to get quick results to their questions.
6. James Creare 8:42am, Fri 9th, 2008
With the popularity of Wordpress increasing, I believe that there will be some sort of trust system introduced, whereby bloggers earn a reputation no matter what wordpress blog they post on.
A bit like the way feedback works on ebay, where the blog owner, can give blog responses a rating.
7. Zydia Toy 6:13am, Tue 13th, 2008
If you look at some of the big names in blogging, a lot of them are affiliate marketers such as John Chow and Shoemoney. In some circles they have gained a bit of a bad reputation as they have promoted any old get rich quick scheme just to get the affiliate kickbacks coming in. People like these aren’t doing much to help. However, there are a lot of well respected blogs by programmers such as PPK and Dan Webb.
8. @Stephen Productivity in Context 6:31am, Thu 15th, 2008
I would agree that the survey was likely skewed, as was the output. I would be willing to bet that people don’t trust “bloggers” in general, as people know that every blogger has an agenda.
BUT. There are individual Bloggers that have EARNED very high trust. And that is the catch when it comes to trust.
You have to earn it.
9. Josh Larson 1:31pm, Mon 19th, 2008
Your blog post brings up some important methodological weaknesses regarding the study. Your comparison between a “faceless, nameless, random blogger” and a specific blog or blogger brings to mind political surveys. Often, when someone is asked whether they’d vote for a generic candidate (i.e., the democratic candidate or the republican candidate) their responses very considerably from their answers if individual candidates’ names are mentioned.
10. Ga 8:49am, Sun 27th, 2008
I think it depends on the blog. Blogs named by the blogger and blogs with a big photo of the owner on the main site are generally more trusted than blogs without personality. Furthermore you have to consider the topic of the blog. Topics in the financial sector are not as trusted as topics in the garden-sector. I know that because I´ve got a website in this sector