RSS Feeds: As a Blogger, are you Transparent?
No, I'm not asking you if you're a Hollywood freak that's invisible. I'm talking about a different kind of transparency. When most people hear the word "transparent" they think of something they can see through, like a window. Like a window, some people are transparent in their attitudes, beliefs and desires. That's still not the kind of transparency I'm talking about.
Transparency, in the business world, is the full, accurate, and timely disclosure of information. As a blogger, transparency would be closer to the concept of "nothing to hide". Believe it or not, readers are drawn to the blogs where the writers appear to be transparent. As a reader, as opposed to a writer, I know I am. Nothing pleases me more than to read a blog by a writer that's open and honest.
So, how do you make yourself transparent if you aren't already? Simple things matter a lot. How many of you have come across a blog that has no contact page? What happens when you want to send the writer an email message, but no email address is given and there's no contact form? You have to make a comment for an article you may not be interested in, just to get the writer's attention. It doesn't always work. Some writers don't read the comments and even if they do, they may miss your attempt at contacting them. I find a lot of blogs that are exactly like this.
Do you want to engage your readers or do you want to lecture them? If the former is what you want, then you need to make sure your readers don't find you unapproachable. Be clear and precise about what you believe when you offer your opinions. If the latter is what you want, you don't need to do anything but preach. The former is what I try to do, even if I'm not always successful.
Every time you sit down to write, ask yourself this question: Am I transparent enough? If you can't answer the question, it's time to ask someone to analyze your blog for you. Normally, if you interact with your readers on a regular basis, you'll already know the answer to the question.
Do you have anything to add to this? Are there other things we can do to increase our transparency? In your own opinion, does it really matter?
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I'm so transparent that you can usually tell right away that I'm either a grossly misinformed idiot, or someone trying really hard to seem like a grossly misinformed idiot.
In all seriousness, though, I did change my username to my email address some time ago specifically so that I'd be easy to get ahold of. I don't have a contact page per se, but I don't think people have had a problem getting in touch with me.
You're not difficult to get a hold of. I did have one person ask me for your email address. I replied with a question. Did you try his username@his domain? That always gets 'em.
Someone asked you for my email? Was it in response to a comment I left here or something? If that's the case, I don't remember getting any such mails…
No, not here. Wait a sec… Nope, can't remember where. But it wasn't anything important.
I think I'm reasonably see through.
I do hate those bloggers who never respond to their comments though. Sure, those who get 200 every post have to draw the line somewhere, but the like of Darren Rowse and John Chow do join in the first 20 or so comments on each post, which is another reason I subscribe to them.
[...] to read. He'll throw in a funny video or disposable post, then hit you with a post like this on Transparency, that just, well….makes me [...]
I'm going to worry about being transparent right after I stop being invisible.
I cannot imagine someone blogging and NOT being transparent. Beyond an "in character" blog, what's the point of a blog otherwise?
Ah, but go to any number of blogs and do one simple task. Look for the author's name. Some don't give any name (not even an alias) and some give just an alias. They have no profile/about page to indicate who or what (male/female) they are.
That's not very transparent at all.