When is the title’s advice appropriate? On our blogs, elements of our personalities get left out of the conversation. A social media blogger may never reveal an affiliation with a 12 step program. A religious blogger may never speak about their left leaning political ideology. A mommy blogger may never reveal their stock trading woes.
Should I reveal religious and spiritual beliefs, political views, and moral stances? I don’t think so.
Should we ever discuss these items with our readers? And if so in what forum should we do this?
I feel it can hurt our brands if we dive into the religion topic with our readers on a blogging tips site. I read a post last week that drew inspiration from Atheism. Does this type of post hurt credibility or increase readership through controversy?
Drawing a Line
I’m a political junkie. I listen to NPR frequently. I watch the news. I listen to political podcasts. I don’t support a candidate on my blog, but I do Twitter various links and informative posts.
If our blog focuses on anything other than our personal life, shouldn’t the personal opinions regarding off topic items be left, well, off our blog? Or is this political correctness muckity-muck?
(Political incorrectness is) a term used to describe language, ideas, policies, or behavior seen as seeking to minimize offense to racial, cultural, or other identity groups. Conversely, the term politically incorrect is used to refer to language or ideas that may cause offense or that are unconstrained by orthodoxy. [Source: Wikipedia]
What happens when I open myself up to religious debate on my blog? Does it increase my readership? I don’t think so. It may increase traffic for a period of time. But the content doesn’t add value to my archives. I feel it alienates certain readers based upon a poor choice.
I’m all for telling the truth about online services, other’s blog posts, new online fads, etc. I do not believe it’s beneficial to demean anyone’s personal beliefs. It would ultimately hurt my content and my explosion on the Internet would be stifled.
Should blogs focusing on anything other than the individual be considered only a part of who a person is?
A Blog’s Character
My blog has my voice. I write blogging tips, review sites, and speak about online services and utilities for bloggers. I frequently use metaphors to describe blogging, because I think this adds color and flavor to my site. I would not demean, discredit or write disparaging metaphors towards anyone’s creed or religion. It would not benefit my brand.
I do see how this type of activity would help certain character blogs. We all know characters that invite conspiracy, demand attention, and create arguments for the sake of arguments. They invite the attention that comes with controversial blog posts.
So what do you think. Should our blogs cross the line into our personal beliefs? Do you want to know that the blogger writing about blogging tips carries Zoroastrian beliefs close to their heart?Or should that information be left off the table?
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I had a wonderful writing instructor last semester who used to say that “an A paper is aware of its own conventions and employs them with a high level of skill.” (I paraphrased that, so it doesn’t sound nearly as profound as when she used to say it.) I felt like that was meant to apply also to any other form of writing…and could probably just as equally apply to any artform. So if a blog is political in nature, but every once in a great while slips into troublingly intimate personal details about the author’s personal life, it’s as if the author set a rule for himself that he’s not always willing to follow. Seems silly, no?
With my blog, I have very frequently toed the line of setting up expectations among my readers, but I don’t think that I’ve pigeonholed myself into a certain category. But then, mine is a personal blog simply meant to entertain/inform family and friends…essentially to share my life as a semi-open book to people who care about me, along with a few stragglers who simply have nothing more entertaining to read. I say to all bloggers, know your own conventions–who you want to be as a blogger–and stay true to that. And, of course, keep on blogging: the hardest part! (my same teacher always used to say, “every occasion for writing is an occasion for writing,” which has been a great reminder to me that every time I decide to blog something, I’ve got to put my artistic touch on it, rather than just writing to grind it out.
Good post, Jason. Good topic. It might even work hand-in-hand with some ideas I was having earlier today to prompt some changes over at Javajunkee.
Aside from severely affecting your credibility (which is possible no matter how well you word your opinion on controversial subjects), much of the time, these topics are just not relevant. Taking my site as an example, I write about blogging and website tips. Writing about religion or politics would be off-topic at best, possibly off-putting at worst. If people really want to talk about these things it might be better as a separate blog or in a debating forum.
Good subject on mixing politics and religion. However, Jason, you are right. To blog such as subject would require a seperate blog. After all are we not to seperate religion and state (politics)? or can you honestly write on a subject such as this just becausse 250 years ago someone(s) wanted to blog this subject with their King? You have an opportunity to reach into the mainstream of politics on this blog but how can we seperate it from religion when even the politicians bring up their religious affiliations just to sway the vote. Don’t be afraid to blog what could be a compelling interest to the blogging community to reach deep into the heart and interest of Main Street USA. I know others would love to hear more. I’ll leave that to the blog pros like you.
I do not think it is appropriate for your blog posts to stray off topic, especially if the topic starts getting into religion or politics. You run the risk of alienating your readers, just like an actor who uses their fame as a soapbox for their personal beliefs. I mean…who really cares what Tom Cruise thinks he did in his “past life”? People read your blog for a reason. Stick to that reason.
Now that does not mean you shouldn’t give people a little taste of your individual personality and ideas once in a while. You just have to be a little creative about it so it doesn’t interfere with the primary purpose of your blog. Comments on a neighboring blog is an excellent example.
Good comments all around. I think its safe to say everyone believes you should stay on topic with your blog. Stick to the conventions of your topic and relegate off topic discussions to other arenas.
I think it is imperative to our own blog design’s not to stray too far off topic and to definitely stay away from “touchy” subjects. As Ben said, those topics can only harm our blog — no matter which side we stand upon.
Thanks for all the great comments.
Good post Jason. I think a lot of people just didn’t get my post though, I didn’t paticulary go off topic because it was still in the nature of tips for improving your marketing.
It just borrowed from another topic to derive opinion, passion and meaning. It also adds a new level of relatability.
Or maybe I just did it to be controversial and get the conversation sparking
Hi Nick…thanks for stopping by.
Should we mix a controversial subject with our unrelated blog? I don’t think so. It does more harm than good. If you intention was to get noticed and get traffic, then I would have to say it was a success.
Even if you were misunderstood, it still got me thinking about this topic. So thanks for that.
I’m torn. I think specialization in any field can be as I believe Chris hinted at, pigeonholesque (yeah pretty sure that’s not a word). Yet the majority here seems to think moving out of one’s specialized area or chosen subject matter is not the thing to do. I guess it has to do again with focus and what it is your blog is supposed to be about. I’m not so much a “march in step solider” I guess and don’t think going off topic is a buzzkill. I’d also caution that deep links are very strange creatures and you’d be surprised at what comes crawling your site sometimes when least expected. Sure, if you’re a multi K subscribed blogger I suppose you can do pretty much what ya want since your major source of income is some monetization scheme coupled with noobs paying you some stupid 50 spot to get a link or whatever, but for the other 99.5% of us I think this is an important post and subject. In the end I’m not sure we have to stay coloring perfectly between the lines, but in building whatever cred we’re working on, I’d guess you better not probably get too nutty with abstracts. Still torn though. Good topic Jason.
Self-censorship is not the same as censorship… If you keep your mouth shut to avoid offending others, that is often just being polite and professional. But at times you have a strong opinion that runs against the norm, and it may be perfectly appropriate — perhaps even a your duty — to state it.
Brutal honesty and a negative attitude are two different things in my opinion. A positive attitude should be tempered with truth, even when it hurts. Criticism is not always bad, and sometimes is well-earned. But you don’t have to blast everyone every time they goof up just as a way to get traffic. I don’t enjoy reading sites that are all about bashing Google, or whoever they think is big enough to hate.
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