So you have a newsy blog. You want to get into Google News. You post regularly. Google News only accepts quality blogs with multiple authors. Why not create multiple aliases even though you are the only blogger.
Is that ethical?
Entrepreneurship. Web Development. Social Networking.
This work by Philip Liu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 16 comments }
To me the answer to that question seems pretty obvious. Google have put such measures in place, I assume, as a way to ensure quality/trustworthiness of the articles they link to. Generally a blog won’t have multiple authors unless it falls into this category.
Pretending you’ve got multiple authors probably hurts the quality of Google News and certainly deceives your users - how do you convince them to trust what you write if you’re lying about who you are.
I think it’s a terrible idea.
One, you’re lying to get around a guideline that exists to keep their information coming from more newsy sources and less personal ones. Yes, I understand that there are bloggers that write as well and accurately as writers for news sources. But that’s going to be the exception rather than the rule. Besides, many of the higher level bloggers are already writing on blogs with multiple authors.
And two, what happens when your visitors find out that Bob and Chris are really both Rick posting under fake names? Some may not care, but you may lose some visitors over the dishonesty.
This is actually a discussion that comes up between owners of forums. Some feel that it’s a good idea to seed a forum with a few fake accounts to make it look busy while some feel that it’s a bad idea. Whether you think it’s a good idea or a bad, it’s still dishonest and I think you risk the trust of your visitors by doing it.
It’s unethical. Plain and simple. However, I don’t agree with Google News excluding single author news sources. Google has plenty of resources. Why not give single author sites an opportunity? The decision should be based on merit not something as arbitrary as number of authors.
It’s not unethical if you’re making a satirical blog. It becomes unethical when you’re trying to decieve on a serious level or for serious motives.
For example, I do fake interviews on my blog and lots of what I say is fabricated, but it’s all a joke and anyone who falls for it is the brunt of the joke.
Wow, its like looking in a mirror LOL
(look at my Blog and you will see what I mean)
I don’t think it’s a good idea - I don’t necessarily agree with the rule, but as Ed Eliot says, you can’t expect people to trust your writing if you lie about who you are.
I’ve had the same discussion with someone, but than about posting on a forum under more than one name ‘as publisher’ in order to get some movement. We decided not to do it. With blogging you are building something social, a connection or even a friendship. With multiple nicknames I think people will notice that they do not contain the authenticity of a dedicated blogger…
No no, I don’t like it. Writing style of one person will always same, even they using different aliases.
Everybody will know that the same person write with many names.
Why not we create the real one. Let our friend to be writer but, we may edit they post if not suit with main topic.
It’s unethical. But, having said that, I don’t think you’ll survive if you try and become a “saint” in this world - especially on the net - where everything depends upon being up on the 1st page of google search. Others will use all the measures at hand to go up there. So, business is successfully done with brain and not heart!
I think it is deffinitely Unethical. I think you should always write your blogs in true self!
Well I can certainly see the reasons for wanting to… is there a more ethical way to achieve the same thing?
ethical? who cares. its not murder, theft or rape. it doesn’t hurt anyone. its just seo work effectively.
Well I don’t think it’s unethical if you say you’re gonna write under two names. Then you can expose two different point of view and different writing styles.
What if you’re not sure about something? You can write the two sides of it under different names and see what the readers think…
There are many reasons to do it, and I don’t think it’s unethical as long as people know of it.
I cannot comment on ethics, but the end result would be Google banning the blog.
I think the deception is unethical, however, I agree with those who opine that Google’s criterion for a credible blog — the number of authors — is a good one.
I’m reminded of something that happened to me when I was a lieutenant in the Army. It was time for my OER — sort of a performance review. My Colonel — my boss — told me that I did the work of three men. I was elated.
Until he completed his thought, by elaborating that the three men to whom he referred were Larry, Moe and Curly. http://www.ihelpyoublog.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif
Comments on this entry are closed.