4 Reasons Why Blogs Are Unreliable Sources – Stashlr

Why Blogs Are Unreliable Sources

There were just 23 blogs in the year 1999. Do you know how much it is now?

1.7 billion and counting!

Due to this, there is a lot of content on the internet that may or may not be true

Even the facts that I showed above may not be true because I pulled that from another blog! (Sorry!)

Some facts and numbers are really important to us. You may use it for your projects, assignments or even a research paper. So, it’s pretty important that these sources must be reliable and trustable.

So, let’s now see the 4 reasons why blogs are unreliable sources.

What are Blogs and Who Maintains Them?

Blogs are short for Weblogs which started as small and simple web diaries. They are frequently updated, with the latest post appearing at the top.

With WordPress and Blogspot, blogging has never been easier. People are free to write on whatever topic they desire.

It’s pretty much saturated right now that almost all the topics that you can think of are already there on the World Wide Web.

Blogs can literally be maintained by anyone. That means if you are reading an article like “The best places to visit in Switzerland”. It might not be written by an actual person who had visited those places.

So, Let’s dive deeper and find more reasons why blogs aren’t good trustable sources.

Related Content – How to Start a Blog

4 Reasons Why Blogs aren’t Reliable Sources

Blogs can be Biased

Bloggers might be biased. If they blog about politics, religion or some other controversial topics, they may incline towards their own personal opinions.

This can be great trouble for readers, especially if they do not know anything about that particular topic.

Bloggers may also promote products which might not be that good. They may even compare it with other similar products and can mislead the readers into buying them.

It’s better if you avoid such blogs and rather lookout for some established websites that are common and known to all.

May or May not be maintained by a Professional

Since anyone can blog, some of them might not be maintained by professionals.

Reading an article from a blog cannot mean that the person is an experienced professional in that topic.

However, This is not a big problem.

Because most people blog about a topic only if they have some knowledge or interest in them.

But, you might be thinking “What about medical blogs?”, Right?

What if you search for a term that can affect your life or your money? Something like “how to cure pneumonia”?

 

Google doesn’t allow weak and untrusted blogs in this topic to come up on the search. That’s why, when you type these questions, Google only shows you trustable resources.

By trustable resources, I mean, a blog maintained by a doctor or a hospital or other trustable people.

This is the same case with investment, stocks and other money related topics. Only when Google thinks that the blog is trustworthy, will it start showing up on the front page of Google.

Money Making Business

About 99.99% of the people on the internet who blog, does it for money (Even me!). It’s a good form of passive income.

Most bloggers make money through Ads or through affiliate marketing or with both together.

Affiliate marketing is when you promote a product developed or created by another person and you get commissions for each sale you make for them.

The problem with this model is that some bloggers might promote any crappy or spammy product they find online (because humans are greedy, right?).

This will definitely mislead readers into buying that product and eventually end up losing money.

Some blog posts may also be sponsored by other companies, which will surely be biased.

So, before buying anything on the internet, please do a proper research about them!

Related Content – The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing for Students

Blogs can be inaccurate

The data, facts and numbers on a blog might not be true. Thay might have pulled it from other blogs or may have found it from other resources.

False or outdated information can be present on blogs. Readers who are preparing for their projects, assignments or their speech may be exposed to false information which may negatively impact them.

So, Whenever you prepare content for professional needs, always double-check the facts and figures. Moreover, take content from Google Scholars search engine or IEEE Xplore or from other trusted resources.

So, How can Blogs Be Trusted?

Literally speaking, you can’t trust any of the blogs.

But, you can, however, check whether a particular article is trustworthy or not. To do that, simply do the following.

1. Research, Research, Research.

The internet is saturated with articles of the same topic. You probably will be able to find more than one article on the same content.

Get your facts, numbers and figures straight by researching both online and offline resources.

Offline resources can include newspapers, magazines, textbooks and maybe, even the whole library. You can even ask your friends and family.

Now, for example, if you planning to buy a product online, you most probably will look into the review of that product. Search on Google, Youtube or even ask people who had already tried that product. There will be both positive and negative reviews about it. Depending on that, you make a decision.

 

2. Use other search engines

Use Google Scholar search engine, IEEE Xplore, Microsoft Academic Search and others, if you are writing professional content for school, college or work.

These search engines are more reliable and trustworthy than others and provide only genuine content.

3. Check the Author’s Credentials

Whenever you are on a blog, it’s better if you go to the About us page and do a small research on the author.

This way you would know if that particular person is reliable or not.

Conclusion

So, Blogs are unreliable sources. They may or may not possess the right information.

Journals and books go through a series of review and editing process and can be used as a credible resource.

However, that’s not the case with blogs.

There is no restriction for the number of blogs and moreover no fact-checking body that individually checks each content. Well, that is practically impossible and that’s why you can’t rely on blogs for information.

I am not saying everything you see on the internet is false or crap, it’s just some of them.

So, Hope you liked this article. If you did, please don’t forget to share this with your friends and family.

Peace!