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In years past blogging was simply looked at as a past time, something a person did to get their thoughts from their head and onto something that could record it. As more and more people began to seek out blogs for information and news, larger players started paying attention and incorporating them into their day today. Now there is no doubt that blogging has established itself in mainstream digital culture with both business and personal uses have found a way to coexist in the blogosphere.

Because we have taken on blogging as our money making efforts we stand to build credibility, reliability, and trust. Our readers are not to be trifled with because the backlash can be so severe that whole networks have shut down because of lack of interest due to bad press, or just uninteresting developments. It is important in today’s written word to remain relevant, interesting, but also honest with yourself and the readers.

I want to pick out one specific topic that has come to mind, especially in light of what I’ve seen recently. The idea of attribution is vital for all of us as writers. It’s understood that all of our ideas our not our own. We gain inspiration from other things we read, see, and hear. As such, such inspiration should be credited in some way shape or form in the context of what you writing about. Especially if you decide to use digital media to further express your point. Lack of attribution can seriously hurt your reputation as well as your readership.

Attribution as A Practice

Attribution is something that should come second nature to any content creator. Whether you’re doing digital video, audio productions, or written word. In this case we will focus on blogging as our mainstay, but in relation to the other formats mentioned it is essentially the same. As we develop our blog and our following of readers, we develop a trusting relationship. We write, they respond, we respond back. This fragile relationship is like anything you might develop in the real world, only without the face to face. Your readers will come to your site because they value your ideas, and they find your content interesting and educational, if not fun.

The delicate balance is truly maintained by the writer themselves, but can be horribly damaged when plagiarism or false claims on an idea or topic are made. It pays to give attribution to anything you include in your post because it shows not only that you’re honest, but that you’re well read, so to speak. By incorporating ideas and concepts from others and expanding on them, it shows that you are savvy enough to know that there is a world outside your blog. Too often I read bloggers that I can tell do not venture out to read other blogs. They pour all their efforts into their own product but understand little of perspective when it comes to varying topics.

Any photos you post need a photo credit line, any idea or quotes you use need proper attribution, and if you were inspired to write something because of something else, then note it. There is nothing wrong with paying respect to the source, and at the very least it can work in your interest if they decide to make mention of your post and/or your site in their own works because you did the proper thing when expanding on the idea.

Photo Credit Andy Ciordia

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Post Written by Luis Sandoval. He is a media professional and consultant who shares his insights on social media and technology on his blog The Daily Slackr.

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