Blog Credibility

When you read through a blog, how do you know it is reliable? Have you ever wondered if you should trust the contents of a certain blog? Who wrote them?

A blog is considered a credible source when the readers trust the information on the blog. Readers who trust the blogs will return to the sites regularly. The familiarity with the blogs increases the credibility of the blog (Azzollini 2012).

The information on a blog is trusted when there are repeated exposures of the same information from different sources. A reliability model suggests that frequent exposure to many sources online allows readers to confirm the information that they have read. References and links from other sources help in verifying the judgements and generating trust (Finn and Zuniga 2011). 

In order to keep the readers interested, blogs posts should be focused on a few specific subjects that is interesting to your readers.  Thorough planning needs to be done to create credible and fascinating content. It is best to take advice from experienced people, such as journalists (Azzollini 2012).

Furthermore, there should be a regular schedule for publishing (Azzollini 2012). This will build and keep the attention of the readers. The regular frequency of the postings can establish reliability for the readers. Readers will become familiar with the blogs and continue returning to the site. Reliability helps to establish the communities’ trust. 

References

Finn, J. and Zuniga H.G 2011, ‘Online credibility and community among blog users’, ASIST, New Orleans, viewed 29 September 2013, <http://www.asis.org/asist2011/proceedings/submissions/110_FINAL_SUBMISSION.pdf>

Azzollini, S. 2012, ‘Building credibility with online communities: Tips from professional news rooms’, viewed 29 September 2013, posted 1 March, <http://blog.prnewswire.com/2012/03/01/building-credibility-with-online-communities-tips-from-professional-news-rooms/>