Authority vs. reliability

An interesting blog post and discussion about “brand loyalty” in journalism. At work we’re looking into how to make our blog posts more identified with individual editors.

Some academic research suggest that people are switching from an authority to a reliability model on the web. (See Lankes, R.D. (2008), Journal of Documentation.)

In essense what this means is that more and more people are trusting the person (or the several people) online whom they have come to know, trust, etc., rather than trusting the experts. . . . A particular journalist may engender more trust or loyalty than a station or news organization.

Step aside, brand loyalty; we’re loyal to information now » Nieman Journalism Lab.

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