We talk about transparency a lot in social media (in public relations, too, for that matter). But what does that mean if you’re a blogger? And particulary, if you’re a new blogger.
According to Paul Gillin‘s book The New Influencers, “transparency is about a lot more than just not lying. It’s about opening yourself up to inspection, analysis, judgement, praise and ridicule.”
Gulp.
That sounds a little frightening. But the blogging community has, over time, worked out some standards and guidelines that are not that difficult to follow and understand.
When you get down to the nuts and bolts, transparency in the blogosphere means adhering to these community standards. Some basic rules:
- Be familiar with the basics of copyright and fair use limitations. It’s important that you don’t plagiarize content (just link to the source!) or present others ideas as your own.
- Your posts should be well researched and complete, try to avoid sweeping generalizations and jumping to hasty conclusions. Honestly, this is the biggest mistake I see new bloggers, and students in general, make in their writing. You can have opinions, even strong ones (please do!), but make sure your opinions are well-founded and you build a foundation on which to stake your claims.
- Once you’ve pushed “publish,” don’t edit your post. If you need to make a change, do a strikethough the old information and insert the new. It is worth noting, however, that a strikethough doesn’t always mean that the author has made a change, sometimes it’s done humorously. (exception: you can correct typos if you need to, but don’t change anything that alters the post’s content)
- If you need to make major revisions to your original, leave a comment on your post as a way of public correction.
- Deleting a post is considered a major no-no. The only time this might be an option is if you think the post might result in harm to someone or could be seriously misleading.
Consider adopting a codes of ethics for your blog (either formally included on your site, or informally for you to know and abide by – I recommend the former). This example from Charlene Li has laid the groundwork for many ethics policies including the GM Fastlane blog.
- I will tell the truth.
- I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
- I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
- I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
- I will never delete a post.
- I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
- I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
- I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
- I will stay on topic.
- I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
- I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
- I will disclose conflicts of interest.
- I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.
What guidelines or standards have you seen, or do you recommend for bloggers? I know I’ve missed some of the deeper/more nuanced aspects of transparency and ethics, but anything I’ve missed here on the basics?
Comments
4 responses to “Blog Clearly & Purposefully: Transparency for Newbies”
Gonna have to quibble here, about the “once it’s published it stays published” item. I have never seen a strikethrough correction on a site I’ve read and I do correct my posts if I find typos or editing errors. At least once I had someone’s job title wrong and I corrected it without a strikethrough spotlighting the error. I see no reason to detract from the credibility of my blog by using strikethroughs. Everything on there is the most current information I have, presented for the maximum reader enjoyment and confidence today.
I’ll certainly consider whether this policy of mine needs to be reconsidered, but it seems to me that one of the reasons blogs can publish faster and more widely is they are open to reader interaction, can be challenged, and can correct information if ever they’re wrong.
Sonja, thanks for the comment. I’m sure it depends largely on the blogs you read whether you see strikethoughs or not. I often see them and I often see “UPDATE:…” with new information.
In my opinion, if your error is a typo or something that is not changing the content of a post, go ahead and fix it. But if you change the content, you can cause confusion among subscribers or regular readers.
Consider this: A new post is sent immediately to a subscriber’s email or feedreader. That subscriber reads it. You make a correction without indicating it with a strikethrough or tagging it as an “update” and republish that post. That subscriber then gets a fresh post delivered to their feedreader – they may read it and wonder why they are getting the same post twice – or they may not.
Regardless, it’s unclear if they got the best, most correct information or not. At best, they are confused at worst, misinformed.
The same would be true for a regular reader, or someone that might use a post for reference or to plan their attendance at an event. If they don’t see the update, and the content has changed, that reduces your credibility far more than a public correction.
My point was that you publish with intent, being as accurate as possible, and if you need to make changes that there are accepted standards to so in the interest of transparency. If I have a typo or a strange formatting thing on a blog, I’ll fix it without alerting my subscribers. But if I need to change the content, I’ll usually include an “UPDATE” indicator. (see this post where I added links: http://prosintraining.com/2009/02/ducklings-take-plunge-blogs-from.html)
Again, thanks for your comment. That gave me a chance to expand my thoughts a little bit.
Thank you for this information. I agree about using the “Update” as I have seen that done during live blogging. After the speaker has concluded, on our PRSA Chapter blog, we have often updated the post with the speaker’s materials. I plan to share your information with my company’s social media team.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Miriam
http://www.craigslistguide.info