Michael Koby

Well, not when it comes to the opinion of bloggers anyway.  According to some research folk (you can see graphs here).  The link points to the blog of Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior Analyst of Social Computing at Forrester Research (how does one get that job?).  In the post, he specifically looks at 3 different reports that show people trust the opinions of bloggers the least.

My response to this? “Well duh” and maybe even a “We needed reports to show this?”

Bloggers are people, and the average person does not know too much about a blogger so the trust level is low by default.  Now, a blogger can build trust among their readership but this is few and far between.  The opinions of a blogger are just that, an opinion.  And to many it is the opinion of a stranger.  Also blogs are still considered by most to be a “new” form of media so a blog will not garner the same level of trust as say a well known magazine or newspaper.

I wonder how these reports translate to the blogs of popular newspapers.  Does the blogger from the New York Times have more default trust than say someone like me?  I wonder what the pshycological implications are with regards to having your blog hosted on the newyorktimes.com.  I wonder if they carry more weight with the average consumer than just a stand alone blog.

If you are a blogger looking to build your credibility, take a look at this Speed Post article over at Problogger entitled, How do I Build Credibility and Presence Online.