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?