The Ugly Side of Blogging

In this post I will shift away from my traditional post and focus on something that is a real problem in the technology blogosphere. Biased reviews are littered for personal and promotional gain throughout many of our favorite blog sites. Some blogs push a product so hard on their readers, that they create disinterest in the product and the trust in the blog starts to deteriorate. This post will sum up my feelings on biased blogs in the blogosphere. 

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Blogging has many advantages when it comes to reaching a following. You can be as in depth or concise as you would like. When you establish that trust with your following, your blog can become very powerful and influential. In the technology orientated blogs, we see a lot of loyal blog followers waiting for the next blog post. This is especially true when the followers, who are also consumers, await for product reviews. Product reviews are important to the consumer and following, so that it can help them make an educated choice on purchasing a product. Many blogs use their influence to create biased reviews for companies or for their own personal ideas. This type of blogging has become a virus to the consumer market, due to consumers being misled or trusting their various blogs they follow and trust for reviews. This is the ugly side of blogging.

            According to a Stanford University blog on the ethics and nature of blogging, “Biased blogs are dangerous for the uninitiated. Many readers who are new to blogs may not be aware of the differences between the traditional journalism review process and the unpolished nature of blogs. If these readers approach blogs in the same manner as other media, they could be heavily influenced by authors’ biases (Nol, 2004).” I believe this is especially true in the technology blogosphere. The very nature of most technology blogs is consumer driven. With many of the tech industries biggest names, its not uncommon to see how products are presented in reviews.

            The tech industry as previously stated, is consumer driven. It’s imperative to keep their brand image on the up and up. Look at Samsung and their Galaxy Note 7 debacle, they are still reigning in the damage control on various blogs they support throughout the blogosphere. With their brand image very much in trouble they are currently pushing the blogs they support to make small reminders with videos of an eight point battery test and the creation of a new industry standard. It will be interesting to see how Samsung tries to present themselves through reviews of their next devices after the Galaxy Note 7 debacle.

            Blogging has an influence that is unmatched. It takes years of blog evolution to become a trusted name in the blogosphere. I myself even have trusted blogs, but I along with the blog following have to be weary of the continuing biased reviews these trusted sites post. The ugly side of blogging can only get uglier as blogs are trying to hide behind their lost beauty of reviews and trust.
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Reference

Lougger, B., & Nol, J. (2004, June 1). Blogging. Retrieved March 07, 2017, from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/2003-04/blogging/ethics-bias.html