I take everything I read online with a grain of salt. It could be that I’ve been around the world of blogging since the days of Greymatter (I just cringed a little) or that I write online. Part of my article writing includes research and finding references to support any claim. The difficult part with doing this online is that so many websites are built just for the purpose of advertising. They have no quality information or sometimes even have articles that make me worry a little. Where is the transparency? Where is the “this might not be safe” mentality? If you post something online chances are some will ignore it and some will consider it to be as real as unicorns.

Then there is the all-powerful world of Mommy Bloggers. I like that crowd, because there is a lot of fun information exchanged, networking and often entertaining reading. Mommy Bloggers are becoming notorious product reviewers, ranters and “pay me and I’ll like your” business women. Not that is it always a bad thing, but I guess we should all pick and choose what ends up on a website with our name on it.

I think advertisers understand the value of Mommy Bloggers and serious bloggers. They have a following, a faithful base and the means of letting the whole world know you suck. Take for an example a vary popular blogger that recently threatened a large appliance company with a negative blog post. She also took to her Twitter to bash their customer service and the fact that her new washer failed, even after repairs.

The large (very large) home appliance company not only contacted her through Twitter and tried to remedy the situation, but they also got on the phone quickly before her negative post made it public. The fact is that a blog post is online for the world to read, and the all knowing Google will display it in people’s search results! Insert PR and some sweet talking, hence no negative blog post publishing. Not every blogger can achieve the status of successfully manipulating a corporation. The world of blogging is large and you are just a pea in a very large pod.

How do you see bloggers? As entertainment or as information you can bet money on? Do you even trust anything you read on a blog?