This thought and endless variations of it have been on my mind since the beginning. I am noticing an increasing trend where an increasing number of bloggers are manipulating their readers in order to make money. More and more blogs are talking about making money in different ways, and more and more people are saying that their blog readers come first, when in reality all they are doing is saying things, without actually doing anything. In this article, when it comes to talking about the idea of manipulating, you can keep in mind that money is usually a big factor why people manipulate others. Also, you can keep in mind that by the the very words “writing” and “reading” and any of their variants, I am referring to all forms of creating thoughts and all forms of feeling those thoughts, including writing and reading, speaking and hearing, producing and feeling, touching, etc.
It is sad, yet not completely surprising that that original personal blogs, from the original days, which did and do nothing but talk about random things because they want to, are slowly disappearing. They are being replaced by blogs that exist in order to make money, and blogs that are highly influenced by the idea of money earned directly or indirectly through and because of those blogs. I wonder if the simplest of personal blogs are the least manipulative compared to other kinds of blogs.
In their purest, unmodified forms, blogs like those run by Sawai, Valerie, Sidney, Stacee, Ronald and Jess, aim to do one basic thing: convey an opinion. Some of these blogs are highly opinionated, while some of these blogs talk about anything experienced in the life of that blogger. At the most basic form, the most selfish thing these bloggers can do at this moment, including me on this very site that you are reading, is to manipulate the readers to prefer an opinion or to sympathize or agree with what is written. Even though I may be wrong, as far as I know, earning money through the blog is not an agenda for any of these bloggers, or at least the main agenda.
That means, in my view, if these bloggers earned no direct or indirect money whatsoever and they could not control or manipulate their readers in any shape or form through their blogs, they would still continue blogging. In the purest and simplest form, a real personal blog should aim to be felt by at least one other person in this world, and nothing else. That feeling should be the only purpose of the purest, simplest, personal blog. Whatever that real personal blogger does to make sure the other person hears them in any form, in turn becomes the simplest form of manipulation possible, for the personal blogger intends only to be heard, and feels no need to turn such an attention into a sale or any kind of generated money for themselves or their partners.
Example: This very site can probably still be considered manipulative, albeit in its smallest form
For example, this very article you are reading was written by a writer who hopes that you will understand what the writer wants to say, and that writer also hopes that if the writer is not wrong in the writing presented here, that you, the reader, will agree to what the writer is saying. It is an unconscious feeling that simply exists. I can easily control it to not let it affect any decisions, since control is one of my skills because this is my life.
Since this is my personal site, everything I write and do on it gets an emotional backup from me, and thus I value it a lot. That can be considered a basis for some kind of manipulation on this site. That is why I can limit the manipulation on this site to the very basic: writing in ways that express both what I want to say and in ways that you will understand exactly what I want to say. For me, anytime someone considers anything other than the original message, is considering manipulation. Not all manipulation is bad. It is just that almost all of the manipulation in the world is bad. Some people may say that me writing content in ways that make readers understand the content more clearly is not manipulation: however, if we want to stick to the definition of manipulation, such things also fall under that meaning, fortunately or unfortunately.
The same way a person dresses nicely to manipulate the public feeling of looking professional while going to a party, when at other times they always dress differently, a personal bloggers or a writer can write a message clearly and then try to manipulate it a bit in order to make it more understandable, without altering any of the content or reason or intention or anything related to the message. It is a very rare quality to have, to not alter the reason why one expresses themselves while trying to appeal to others, though when it happens, it can still be considered one of the simplest forms of manipulations, even if it is not bad and in reality is good for both the writer and the reader.
Even though there can be manipulation in the writing itself, a personal blog nature can give you a few things that other blog types cannot: the ability to write anything. I can write about kidnapping whales and stalking squirrels while eating with cats, and I can still be happy. Many other bloggers cannot, since for them, every post must bring in a lot of readers or else they may upset their advertisors or their site may lose value and they may lose credibility, in the eyes of those who pay. It is simply the reason why one blogs that sets everyone apart.
What sets me apart: realizing the importance of reason behind everything.
For me, reason is everything. That is why this site is called The Reasoner. I am not here to make money through this site, period. If I make money while doing what I want, awesome. So far, that has proven to be hard. For example, I was recently offered a few thousand dollars to either delete a post I had written a few years ago, or to close it down and not allow any more comments on it. I rejected the offer, and the post is still open, upsetting some businesses and some ethnic groups since I wrote what I observed and they do not like that being in the open.
What would have happened if I had been offered a million dollars to delete that post or turn it off along with its comments? Today, in 2007, a million dollar solves monetary woes for life for many people, whereas a few thousand dollars solves monetary woes for only a few weeks for those same people. You can see the dilemma when it comes to having answers that apply to every situation. That is why in real life, using real solid logic and reason which majority of the bloggers simply ignore because they do not understand it and because they wish to have smaller type of roles in life or anything to earn money with, it can be and usually is very hard to find out the definitive answer to anything, including the question of whether or not personal blogs are the least manipulative or if they are the most manipulative when it comes to wanting to control the blog and readers in such a way that the blogger earns some kind of money. All of these and the importance of reason itself are why manipulation is a very important thing for me to track and observe on all sites, if I am aware of it.
For our topic here, the issue of how to finance the costs of hosting and running a blog are not important. Our sole concern, at its simplest, is the absence or existence of any kind of manipulation done to earn any form of direct or indirect money.
Some other blogs that come close to the simplest forms of personal blogs do not focus on earning money themselves in any manner
Many personal bloggers simply want to be heard, whether it is by a 1000 people every day or 10 people every week. The most basic and simple personal blog blogs because it is a personal thing to do. In contrast, non-personal bloggers can have some more self interests in their blogs in their simplest blogging styles. They may be blogging for earning direct money, or they may be blogging in order to persuade someone to take some action, like a political blog urging everyone indirectly to vote for someone in the elections. In theory, a blogger can have a blog that helps others earn money, while not aiming for and not earning any money whatsoever, directly or indirectly, through the existence of that blog. In reality, how many of such blogs do we know exist?
Similarly, some bloggers may be blogging to indirectly promote their online or offline business, while other bloggers blog because they want to figure out some way to earn money in the future.
Still, there are some few types of bloggers who come as close as possible to being true personal bloggers. Hobby Bloggers, who blog about their hobbies, can come close to being the least manipulative in their blogging, if they focus solely on promoting or talking about their hobby without manipulating anything or anyone to earn more money along the way. Similarly, bloggers who simply blog, without having any direct or indirect financial or self interest in what they write other than to be heard, come very close to personal bloggers when it comes to the least manipulative tactics that can be seen on different kinds of blogs.
Are Marketing and Advertising blogs and bloggers the most manipulative?
Contrary to popular belief by many people, not all marketers, advertisors and sales people wish to throw down products in your view. However, many marketing and advertising blogs and bloggers do usually apply more sales techniques on their readers, writing articles that attract more readers or claiming to be beneficial for the readers, with the sole purpose of being more popular and earning money either directly or indirectly. The reason why one starts blogging is very important to me. A personal blog that starts blogging simply to express opinions is more important and honest than a blog that starts blogging in order to indirectly advertise one’s skills or business in order to directly or indirectly make money. For me, a personal blogger appreciating readers simply because they like those readers reading that blogger’s writing is more sincere and less manipulative than a marketing or some other blogger appreciating readers because doing so will result in more attention and more business and money in the long run, and vice versa.
A marketing or advertising blogger running only a personal blog and not advertising, directly or indirectly, his or her services or skills, and not promoting any writing in order to benefit in any manner, directly or indirectly, other than to be heard by at least one person in the world, can have a blog with the least manipulation. Of course, by its very nature, it is very hard to find many blog kinds out there which limit themselves to writing only to be heard by only one person and nothing else. The closest kind to such a thing can be anonymous online journals that do not want to, nor do they, make any kind of direct or indirect money for anyone other than the readers, including the anonymous online journal owners. One can easily say and argue that if money is involved, then manipulation may happen. Let us assume that in our case, the readers make money, and that the people producing the content that helps reader make money are not influenced at all by the readers making money: they write anything, including things that do not appeal to anyone, all the time. There are still many people out there who do not allow comments on their site, and all they do is write about different things without advertising or without earning any money. They simply want to be heard or they simply want to express themselves.
I am myself very closely related and tied to the marketing and advertising field, though I have made sure that I am tied to it indirectly. It is not that marketing and advertising blogs are manipulative and personal blogs are not. Many marketing and advertising blogs usually tend to be more manipulative than personal blogs. Personal blogs do have some manipulation, in the form of sometimes not sharing the entire story about something or putting emphasis on a single thing, in order to sway the reader to agreeing or sympathizing with what the writer wants to say.
Thought: Are personal blogs less manipulative than other kinds of blogs?
So I wonder, all the time, the same way I wonder about a countless number of other questions. Are personal blogs the last standing blogs that have any chance of having the least manipulative tactics than other blogs?
As always, I also wonder whether the answer is absolute or relative.
As I said before, reason is everything to me, and that is why I like being called The Reasoner. Now that I think of it, I may also like names like The Hungrer, since I am also usually always hungry. I have to stop writing for now, since I it is near midnight here and it is time for me to hunt for food.
Thank you for reading.
« Show less..
