Wikileaks

In the turmoils of fake news and media blaming, one site still keeps bringing the truth.
Wikileaks was build to unveil the the truth about back office deals and hidden agenda of political groups around the world.
It is paradoxical that one of the most respected site and awarded for its transparency and openness about the source is aiming to make state secrets public. In this case, the credibility of the site is its main characteristic. All document posted on the site are thoroughly authenticate by multiple sources. Without this process, the site would lose the trust of its readers and its main goal.Still, it proves that even in an era of misinformation there is a way to promote truth and inspire trust.

"WireTrump"

More and more the use of social media to promote political agenda is eroding the trust in the online information. 

Earlier this month, president Trump accused the previous administration and president of wiretapping his phone line during the presidential campaign. While President Trump maintain the accusation, no proof have been presented. What would follow is a series of public exchanges and requests aiming at discrediting the other party. While it is common place in politics to claim and disclaim all sorts of pseudo fact, in the social world things are generally more subtle.
Don't get this wrong, there is plenty of false statements on social network but they don't affect a nation security nor they are officially framed to attack the previous president. By using the social network to manipulate the public opinion, President Trump, bypass the traditional news outlet and flood the public with posts that are both entertaining and political. The negative impact of this strategy is a diminished trust in information in the social network.
We live in a society where information is front and centre of everything. If we cannot trust the news media or our social network (friends, colleague, family, etc.) how to find the truth? It is necessarily somewhere hidden behind some lies.
A survey by Environics found last year that less than 30% of respondents trust the information on social network which not far behind the less than 50% for broadcasting news. Even if we know the information may be false, the message stick if it is repeated. A poll by the news channel WJHL hint at a 25% believing the president. This poll is on a voluntary base and may not well reflect the general opinion. Still 25% is a lot of people backing the president on an accusation for which he has provided no proof.

To comment or not comment

Since its beginning, blogs have been a way to communicate to people, get feedback and promote discussion. At first it was only logical, since blogs were, at the time, the option to replace old fashion BBS and Usenet. As time passed by, new tools emerged and the discussion migrated to more social tools than some simplistic comments to a blog. Nowadays, you want your comment to be instantly visible to all you network. Not just those reading the blog. And rightly so, if you commented, it's because you wished to convey an idea to the world. 

Furthermore, comments on a blog are challenging to manage and maintain because they must be moderated, cleaned, and so on. Removing them is a bit of relief but you still want a way to interact.

What can a blogger do?

More and more we see news outlet replacing the comment section on their blogs by pointing to other social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. This way, they can reach more people and even create a buzz. This approach is only the natural evolution of the blog positioning itself in the social web universe. It serves to present an opinion or a position while somehow backing it with other sources of reference. A blog is richer than a Tweet or Facebook post. It is more structured. 

To get to your readership you must levied all the networking power of social media. It is through those channels that you relate to your audience. This should be reciprocal.