Sep | 19 | 2007

Does Controversy Have a Place in Blogs?

Posted by Jimmy as Opinion, Writing

I came across this blog which was offering advice to other bloggers regarding their writing. The author was saying that you have to be controversial. “Don’t be a sheep” – that was his way of driving the point home. It got me thinking again, does it pay to be controversial in one’s blog?

I suppose that the answer depends, again, on the nature and purpose of your blog. For my personal blog, for example, all I want is a venue to express myself, a venue to vent and rant whenever I need and want to. I suppose that could be controversial at times, even if not on purpose. If it does get more readers because of its controversial nature, then it is good, I guess.

How about for business blogs? Is it acceptable to be controversial on purpose? If controversial means that you will get more customers to read your blog and patronize your service or product, then it just might be a good idea. However, I seem to have this personal aversion to being controversial just for the sake of it.

Perhaps the idea is to strike a good balance, whether you are writing for a personal blog or a business blog or whatever. If you have a belief or a principle that you stand by and you want to voice it out, then it shouldn’t matter if others find it controversial or not. However, if you are saying things just for the sake of getting attention, then it is a different matter altogether.

What do you think?

Comment (1)

One Response

Julie
27|Nov|2008

Jimmy, I think creating controversy on blogs, even if they are business blogs, make them a thousand times more interesting. It sure makes my stats skyrocket!

There’s a fine line, I think if you have nothing controversial to say, than controversial ways of communicating ideas is perhaps better than nothing. Than it comes down to language. People like to hear strong voices in blogs.

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