Someone remarked yesterday about the amount of times I reveal things in my writing and tweets that are, well, less than aggrandizing. Actually, her exact words were “have you no shame? lol”.
Shame? Hmm, while I don’t post pictures of myself drunk, or in my boxers, I do write things that others might think are self-depreciating. Things like mistakes I make, failings, bad habits, and the fact I am jealous that my brother is tall, slim and an excellent guitar player, while I am short, chubby, and can play one chord. Badly.
I think the way we communicate online gets to the heart of what we believe the medium is meant to be …
Blogs are about human conversation. We are not writing for broadsheet newspapers, this is not an academic thesis. We are people first, bloggers second.
Yes, I make money through building trust in my capability to help businesses via giving away fabulously useful information, but admitting failings does not work against that. In fact, I believe it helps.
There is a key word in the previous scentence – can you spot it?
Ah-ha, yup, there it is. “Trust”.
People like to do business with people, particularly in service or coaching type scenarios where they will work closely together. Showing you are a real person behind the screen is a way to build a connection, which leads to more trust.
Also I think in particular mistakes, problems, and how we deal with them, is valuable content. Wouldn’t you rather learn from another person’s mistake rather than have to make the mistake yourself?
I don’t hold with this idea that we have to present a perfect facade in our writing. If anything I believe being an imperfect, but three dimensional person can only add rather than take away.
What do you think?
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