Be an Effective Blogger!!

In chapters two and three off Brian Carroll's Writing for Digital Media, Carroll discusses how to makes a web page be successful. He talks about many elements that contribute to a good, informative, and easy to read page or blog. Writing for digital media is completely different then writing for analog media. Although certain principles apply to both, how the author communicates is so different. 

Carroll talks about the importance of credibility, accountability, identity. I found the idea or credibility and identity to be particularly important especially pertaining to blogs. Carroll does state that there is no widely accepted definition of credibility, but words like "believability" are commonly used. The way I see it, credibility pertaining to digital media means the ability to knowledgeably communicate information to the readers without too much personal opinion and/or bias. When talking about identity, Carroll talks about how when people are viewing web pages, especially blogs, they want to see a common interest or link between them and the author. This identity makes the author less of a distant computer robot and more of a person that the viewer can relate to. The importance of both of these elements are also supplemented with the need to design a functional, easy to use, and visually stimulating page. The resources that are available to users on the web are significantly larger then those who are writing a book. Color, links, pictures, and videos are all wonderful elements that can add dimension and layers to a web page. One thing Brian Carroll said in chapter three that I think is very true is that if a page doesn't load, link doesn't connect, or video doesn't start in three seconds, the viewer doesn't stick around. It is important to remember as a blogger now to check all those details, because if something isn't functioning properly or effectively it can turn away viewers from what information you are trying to communicate.

Question: Keeping in mind the importance of credibility and identity, do you think it would be difficult to establish both these element in a blog?

My answer: I feel like it is definitely a challenge to establish both credibility and identity with a blog. In one sense, you want to state your opinions and you probably already have your biases regarding certain topics, and in a lot of ways these opinions and thoughts can come across as identity. However, if you push those too far or don't present the whole story you lose credibility. To sum it up, I think it is very possible, just hard to walk that line and keep things credible and relateable!