Blogging is more professional than Social Networking

by William Holden

I’ve been working at Quirk now for about a month and am starting to find myself asking more and more industry related questions, so today I thought I would tackle one of these subjects. This post was inspired by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger Blog Tips who I have come to benefit from greatly during my transition into the online reputation environment.

My blog is more a commentary on the point raised when Darren was looking at the question of Blogging VS Social Networking. I am one who definitely sits on the blogging side of the fence when it comes to the two. I had used (and still do use) social networks for quite some time before joining Quirk and it has only been since joining this fine company that I have been truly introduced to the blogosphere, and I must admit that I have become a huge fan in this short period of time.

Blogging allows the author greater control over the area where his or her posts are being exposed. The authors are able to place their blogs in the environment where they believe best suits their needs. Comparatively social networks have the control over the environment on which their authors’ spaces are viewed.
A blog has far more professional credibility than a social network profile. Although both a blog and a social network profile contain the author’s opinion, by concentrating your blog around a certain industry you can build up a reputation as being an authoritative figure on a particular subject. This in turn results in greater intellectual feedback from those who read and interact with your blog. Of course by receiving a higher standard of comments on your blog you are able to enhance the overall experience for the readers.
On the other hand social networking shows a far more human side of your business. Your consumers see the faces behind the brand and form a better relationship with your company. But as was mentioned above, the author doesn’t have control of the environment in which their profile is viewed. For a brand which would like to maintain their professional image this could be a problem as the social network has ultimate control over your profile space. Adverts can be placed upon your page which conflict with what you are selling/promoting.
It is argued that traffic on these pages is higher, with some profiles having thousands of ‘friends’. The question though is what quality of friends are these? In many cases these ‘friends’ are purely trying to increase the number of friends on their profile and will not actually interact with your profile therefore negating the relationship completely, whereas readers who subscribe to blogs are far more likely to actually read your articles.

Ideally I believe that there can be a balance between simultaneously running a blog and having a profile on a social network. You can create exposure for yourself and your business on a social network and from that exposure advertise your blog. Only those genuinely interested in what you have to say will bother to read and comment on your posts which will therefore enhance the overall quality of your blog and create a better opinion of your brand.

2008/01/04 | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

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