Facibus On Blogging

Lani is trying to decide how much of her personal self that she wants to put into her new blog:

If I use my own name for the new site, do I need to keep my other identity completely separate from that in order to maintain a professional appearance, or do I need to be open about what I do in order to show my commitment to blogging?

While this partially comes back to the different personas for different blogs thing, there is a deeper issue: how much of ourselves should we disclose in order to show commitment to our readers?

A few questions
First up, I have a few questions that will lead to the larger answer:

• Is showing commitment necessary to be a successful blogger?
• Does disclosure show commitment?
• Are there any other factors that influence the desirability of disclosure in blogging?

Is showing commitment necessary to be a successful blogger?
I think that the commitment type and level depends on your blog. Discussing musers vs reporters, Glen Stansberry wrote:

Musers- Musers like to take information and extrapolate. Or abstract ideas. Or nothing related at all. But that’s ok… their readers know and expect this whimsical style from the writer. (Think Kottke, SvN, Seth Godin.)

Reporters- Information junkies that think structurally. Information is currency, and these bloggers are stinking rich. (With information, that is.) Reporters typically don’t deviate too much from the facts, and like to be the first to spread the word. And boy are they regular. They’re like prune juice of the blogosphere. (Think Techcrunch, Micropersuasion, GigaOM.)

My guess is that readers of reporting blogs want accuracy and currency - that is, they want what they want when they want it. Commitment is shown by the reporter/blogger by providing timely accurate information.

Musers - people who interpret and reframe the world around them - are more likely to have an ongoing two-way conversation with their readers. If this holds, Muser commitment is shown by entering into and maintaining this conversational relationship. Given that most people seek relationships to fulfil a need to belong, I believe that showing commitment is important to Muser-bloggers also.

Does disclosure show commitment?
My guess is that reporter blog readers are only vaguely curious about the reporter’s personal life - that is, anything that might get in the way of the transfer of that timely and accurate information.

Musers, on the other hand, interpret the world through their own unique lens - and a little disclosure goes a long way toward appearing more human.

Are there any other factors that influence the desirability of disclosure in blogging?
I can think of a few:

• where disclosure is out-of-niche - for example, if you’re running a bargain reporting blog, then an ode to your well loved but now sadly departed pet cat may surprise your readers.
• where disclosure leads to social ostracism - for example, if you are going to come out of the closet as a latex fetishist, it may get in the way of your professional life if you work in an area where alternative lifestyles are not the norm. I’m of the opinion that whatever goes on between two or more consenting adults should never be a factor in working life, but others are not so broad-minded.
• where any kind of exposure is undesirable - for example, if you are in the scam-baiting business or any other field of human endevour where people may wish to harm you, giving clues to where you live could be hazardous to your health.

My vertict is…
…that if you’re a Muser, then at least some disclosure is a good thing, so long as you keep in mind the consequences of your writing. My advice is that whatever you do chose to disclose, keep it consistent throughout the life of your blog, because people have a long memory for touching personal details (so you don’t want to disappoint your longterm readers) and once something is disclosed, it is hard to cover it up again.