Blog Creditability and Ways to Build Creditable Blog

 Is This Blog Creditable?

Like every other media, a blog can be either very informative or the other way round very dry. Informative blogs are highly credibility to bloggers. However, credibility of a blog is being judge differently by different user. According to Johnson and Kaye (2008), individual blog creditability judgment falls on the believability, fairness, accuracy and depth. Besides information, sponsor of the site can also affect the creditability judgments. For example, paultan.org is supported by oto.my. This increases the creditability of the blog. 

 Automotive Blog

(Source: paultan.org 2012)

 

Sternthal, Dholakin &Leavitt (1978) view that, a highly creditable blog will generate larger influence on viewer in terms of attitude and behavior compare to the less creditable ones. On the other hand, McGuire (1968) argue that creditability are not given from source of information, but it is create from the audience perception that take the information as knowledge, education, intelligence, social status and professions achievement. Therefore from McGuire point of view, creditability can be situational. For example, blog user which has no interest on automobile will give less creditability to paultan.org, vice versa. Later on, Fogg et al. (2003) state that, information, site design and sponsor are factors to judge blog creditability. Besides the above mention judgments, trustworthy, in-depth information, and writhing style are also creditability judgments. As conclusion, blogs allow us to have top information and direct observation of bloggers experience. 

Build Creditable Blog 

According to Azzollini (2012), build online community are important before widen creditability. To increase community, bloggers must highlight on interest point to attract audience reappear, expecting more posting available. Building a creditable blog, it is best to seek suggestion form journalists. Poynter Institute recommends developing a regular posting schedule. Regular flow of information will attract audience attention. However, irregular or rare posting might irritate and disappoint audience. Besides that, creditable blogger must remain positive communication. Replay and response to comments maintaining communication flow are important. Lastly, frequent update will let audience feel fresh towards the page.

Reference 

‘Poynter Institute’ 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 10 September 2012, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poynter_Institute>. 

Azzollini, s 2012, Building Credibility With Online Communities: Tips From Professional News Rooms, viewed on 10 September 2012, <http://blog.prnewswire.com/2012/03/01/building-credibility-with-online-communities-tips-from-professional-news-rooms/>

Finn, J & Zuniga, H 2011, Online credibility and community among blog users, viewed on 10 September 2012, <http://www.asis.org/asist2011/proceedings/submissions/110_FINAL_SUBMISSION.pdf> 

Fogg, B.J., Soohoo, C., Danielson, D. R., Marable, L., Stanford, J., & Trauber, E. R. (2003). How do users evaluate the credibility of Web sites? A study with over 2,500 participants. Proceedings of DUX2003, Designing for User Experiences Conference.

Johnson, T & kaye, B 2008, Can you Teach a New Blog Old Tricks? How Blog Users Judge Credibility of Different Types of Blogs for Information About the Iraq War, viewed on 10 September 2012, <http://www.jou.ufl.edu/faculty/mmcadams/papers/Johnson_Kaye_2008.pdf>

McGuire, W. J. (1968). The nature of attitudes and attitude change. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology 3, 136-314. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Sternthal, B., Dholakia, R., & Leavitt, C. (1978). The persuasive effect of source credibility: Tests of cognitive response. Journal of Consumer Research, 4 (4), 252-260.