Comments on: Bloggers More Trustworthy Than Politicians

By: JT Cooper

JT Cooper — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 17:57:03 +0000

It could be that the general public has learned over time that no matter what any politician says during the hot campaign, most of it will not come to pass when they are actually elected.

At least with bloggers, there remains a chance that what is blogged about rings true, but then as human beings, we learn at a very young age not to trust anyone completely.

For that reason, I think a healthy dose of skepticism will always be alive and well.

By: Bruce Bradley

Bruce Bradley — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:58:37 +0000

I agree with Joe’s comment.

The reason people trust bloggers more than politicians is simply because there is already a mistrust in the general public towards politicians.

And in terms of track record, they have a spotty one at best.

Add to the fact that people DO want to trust and believe, well then a blogger becomes a lot easier to trust.

Granted, most people won’t do their due diligence. They want someone to tell them what, who and how to believe…

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:17:54 +0000

I have to agree with the social proof theory. I think that it has to do with that bloggers seem very accessible to many people. They respond to comments, they talk about their home life, and people can genuinely relate to them. Politicians seem so distant and in another world, so they seem less trustworthy.

By: Joe Linden

Joe Linden — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:08:46 +0000

“That bloggers seem more trustworthy just hit me as short sighted. How can the individual blogger, who you may know nothing about be more trustworthy than other groups with plenty of disclosure on who they are are what they do? Maybe doing the homework on politicians is just too difficult? Maybe a blogger’s independence and clear point of view gives the appearance of trustworthiness? ”

I think it’s a matter of social proof essentially. Politicians are constantly berated by those of opposing political parties. No matter who you support you’ve probably heard some negative views on the person.

On the other hand, the average blogger is not nearly prolific enough to attract that many opposing views and so there is no one to criticize them, making them seem trustworthy.

Just an idea.

By: rob poulos

rob poulos — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:04:57 +0000

Quote:
“But then the fact that more than 70% of those surveyed don’t trust the president, congress, senate, media or bloggers made it clear that the slightly higher trust in bloggers is overwhelmed by a high level of general distrust in all of them.”

I know that this is quite an old post, but I think it resonates so well with the political scenario here in Malaysia. I totally agree with your statement up there, that although it his harder to vouch for an individual blogger, the sheer distrust of the public with the current government is pushing them to trust the next available news source.