Bloggertone

Lol, nice post Tina. nnnIn my *humble* opinion, a blog is simply one person’s opinion sent out in cyber-space. I don’t think we need to back it up with facts and figures, that it is up to the reader to decide whether to accept those facts at face value or not. If they do then they take the responsibilty for accepting them at face value or doing their own research themselves. nnn

Only to a degree Niall. I suppose it depends on what you are blogging about. I still believe blogging is only sharing your opinion, it’s not hard facts, simply your take on something. nnnI suppose because a lot of what I do is about personal responsibility and owning it plus provoking “outside the box thinking” that, I come from a different angle altogether. One thing I ALWAYS do with anything I read or hear is ask myself “what is the other side of this that I’m not being told or shown? How will knowing that affect how I react to that information?” Not a lot of people do that and then are shocked and dismayed at being mis-informed when they really weren’t, they blindly chose to accept, ultimately chose to be mis-informed.n

Very valid points Niall. Lol, okay I’ll concede that Mairu00e9ad-The-Blogger does have a certain amount of responsibility towards her audience. n

Great comment and insights Joseph, thank you for adding to this discussion. nnBloggers are people, politicians are people, and people are often motivated by the wrong stuff, I agree!nnThe danger with becoming influential, whether it’s online or otherwise is that if enough people keep telling you that you’re great or you know it all etc… you may very well start to believe your own BS. nnYou stop asking yourself the right questions, because popularity begins to quickly blind your reasoning.nnI think intelligent human beings realise that popularity is only truly useful in the context of positive change. nnPopularity for the sake of popularity tends to end badly, in that the same people that will believe or follow you blindly are then the very same ones that will turn on you for very little reason. They followed for what you represented, rather than who you were and foolishly you fell for it nnI agree strongly with your point on bloggers merely initiating conversation, but perhaps that carries greater responsibility? it is a much more powerful thing to ask, someone a great question than to give them the answer?

Blogging has a lot to offer the world, but in turn… it also can be a bit of a plague on us all to have opinions so freely shared. nI’m not a fan of mommy bloggers who make their niche being mean. And there are tonnes of them!

I’m glad you mentioned ‘Duty of Care’. Due Care theory is part of responsible marketing and similar to Contract View (duty to comply, duty of disclosure, duty not to misrepresent, not to coerce, etc.) – It’s based on the idea that consumers and sellers do not meet as equals. In the case of blogger and reader – the blogger knows something that the reader may not. Due Care View suggests that consumers base their decisions on the expertise of the manufacturer. Soooooo, does the reader base their decision to believe in the written content, based on the ‘expertise’ of the blogger? nnnI believe that we do have a moral duty to write what is correct in our own minds. That we have the power to change someone’s mind, view, belief and knowledge base; and that this means we have an obligation to the reader. This duty also suggests that our readers are vulnerable nto our posts.n

Hi Joseph….The comment in response to Niall above would be worth reading in response to your own.nnnYou do make a strong point about not always realising what we’re saying, and that it may be incorrect. My partner has a saying ‘The best lies are based on the truth.’ You can lie well if you think its not a lie. In digital terms – you don’t see the ‘poker face’ , so it’s much easier to lie or write untruths.n

I’m picking my battles today nnLots of people blog but not everyone is blogging. I know of course what you meant, in that more and more people appear to be blogging so…. nnAt the same time I would argue that many people that should be are still not. nnI don’t like to generalise, it’s rarely helpful! but I think that these people who should but aren’t roughly fall into three categories:nn1) Those who don’t understand it’s value, lack of education n2) Those who lack confidence, fear that they don’t have something valuable to sayn3) Those who fear getting found out, having to deal with blogging’s conversational nature would risk showing I’m not as good/important/smart as you think I am.nnMy point is that many who blog are blogging for the wrong reasons, I agree (see Joseph’s comment below) And many of those that could probably use blogging in the most positive and effective way, are still not! The question for me is, how do we get them to? nn

Totally @lindsaydianne:disqus .Not a fan either. There’s a fine line between having and sharing an opinion, and shoving it in someone’s face.n

Thing is as consumers we can just as easily bounce right back off the page and on to some other one.n

This is a super post Tina, and the comments are just as informative….

Hi Adriaan & Sian, 

thanks Sian for doing the interview, and thanks Adriaan for providing such great insight to other businesses on how to tweet for business success! 

I would like to share with you about the power of FourSquare from personal experience.  I was staying with Sian (minding her furries while she was away) early last summer with my boyfriend, who wanted to take me out to dinner.  As neither of us knew the area well we decided to look for nearby restaurants on twitter- and discovered The Cliff House Hotel, so we set off to find it- again with the help of the map on FourSquare! 

When we arrived there were no table available in the restaurant as we hadn’t pre-booked but your staff were very friendly and seated us in the bar area- still with great views and we got to partake of the same menu- the food was delicious!  

If it wasn’t for Foursquare, I’d never have known you were there & wouldn’t have gone that day- and I know every time I go back to visit Sian (next time will be February) I’ll pop by to enjoy the excellent decor, service and food! 

So please, don’t neglect little ‘ol Foursquare- particularly because of the tourism aspect to it- we did the same when we were in Houston and Phoenix last year- Foursquare is an excellent way of finding restaurants when one is hungry  

A well written and comprehensive interview Sian, well done to you both. The Cliff House Hotel is now on my radar, and I am off now to find them on twitter.
The tips are great Adriaan, and you certainly are taking the proces very seriously while having LOTS of fun!! 
Thank you both for sharing a great story, great questions, and great tips

Thanks for the lovely comments Elaine. I’d definitely recommend a follow and a visit

Thank you for the kind comments Niall. It really does help having such interesting people to interview

I’m so glad that came across in the interview as Adriaan really is a “nice bloke” and the hotel well worth a visit. I can’t wait to see their blog too

Thanks Christina. Have to say that Adriaan is an expert at Tweeting while he works – and you’d never notice. I was just trying to spot who the tweeter was

Thanks for the lovely comment and yes it’s great to see the community building in West Waterford too

Thanks Clive and Rachel – enjoy keeping in touch with you ‘across the water!’

Thanks Alex – look forward to welcoming you to Ardmore. Blog on its way!

Thanks Claire – Great reply and I assure you that it’s not that I don’t think much of Foursquare – it’s more to do with the time it takes to keep all these sites updated and interact with them – think our next step is to hire a full time IT person! Please say help the next time you are down minding the ‘furries’!! Adriaan

Thanks Francesce appreciate our comments.

I totally get that there is a limit to the amount of time to spend on all relevant social media platforms- the great thing about FourSquare is that it requires the least amount of time- just go in and make sure the relevant information is on Foursquare for your venue- and let the people using FourSquare do the marketing for you.  

They’ll send out alerts to their networks of where they are, even leave tips for other customers about what’s good, take pictures of themselves enjoying the food, and as we found- foursquare even helped us find you to begin with, just by searching for nearby “restaurants”.  For geographically located businesses Foursquare has to be the easiest way to gain social media coverage, with the minimal amount of time invested into it. 

phew!  That was a long comment!  Maybe I ought to turn that into a FourSquare blog post myself!!  

Again.. there are almost unlimited things one could do… if one had the time!! 

excellent, I look forward to meeting you in person- am over looking after the “furries” again late, and Sian has said she’ll bring me down, seeing as she knows the way I won’t need Foursquare this time   

Well done little sister. Any chance of a discount at the Hotel for a hard up Welsh pensioner?

Bring your OAP card with you