I have written some topics in the past that have been controversial. Unfortunately, because not all bloggers are within the United States, my claim for 1st Amendment rights are not always possible, as shared by Jennifer Brown Banks in her article How to Tackle Controversial Topics in Blogging.
Unfortunately, employers are surfing the net and will find you, so if you are going to be controversial, even politically, you need to blog anonymously. The stories of people being fired because they blogged about some topic or another is proof. I have blogged about this before.
So, here is how to tackle controversial topics without bombing out:
- Know your rights. If you work for a company, know your company’s policy regarding divulging work in public. Some companies do not have any policies concerning workers talking about work outside the facility. Others do. In the United States, if you are employed in a state that has a ‘fire at will’ policy, you could be out of a job.
- Be truthful. Be civil and do not create statements that could be defamatory.
- Be thorough when stating facts to back up your opinion. You could put your opinion out there, but it would not hold a ‘grain of sand’ or rally any support.
- Do not expect others to agree with you. Everyone has an opinion and while you may be well informed on your topic, there may be others who have a lot of proof. Let them lay their opinion down and even if you do not agree… at least the topic has been discussed from several angles. Never write off people because they do not agree with you. These are the people that you can learn a lot from, even if you do not agree.
- Be civil. Name calling, demeaning words will not only piss people off that might be involved, but a lot of readers are turned off by such behavior. If you are going to shout from your soapbox, at least have some integrity.
- Keep an open mind. You may feel your opinion change a bit on some issues. That is perfectly fine. No one is forcing you to be a certain way. It is your blog. However, if you find yourself agreeing, be sure to do a follow-up post and share your revelations. 🙂
- Choose your words wisely. While you could choose your battles wisely, it is probably best to choose your words wisely. In blogging, you can write on whatever topic you want. It is how you word your articles that may make or break your site. If you have written something in the heat of the moment, save it on draft, and then read over a few times before posting. If you go back later, people will not appreciate the passive-aggressiveness.
Do you walk the fine line of controversy? How have you succeeded? Have you had a bad experience with blogging?
I prefer controversial articles because they usually attract more meanignful and in-depth comments and maybe even a discussion. Also controversial articles can lead to follow up articles.
Hi Nile – Good topic, and equally good advice especially if someone is truly concerned about reputation. I had a political blog and I was anonymous, but I think if I wasn't anonymous, it would have done even better and I would have stuck with it.
Controversial topics are okay, and I even encourage them. Nothing like shaking up the blogosphere! There was a very lengthy discussion on the blogworld blog going on for quite some time, when someone (forgot his name, forgot the URL; was a few months ago) was attacked for stating personal opinion on his "corporate" Twitter account (although, he was the owner, not an employee or anything). Turned into a gigantic blog mess of comments. Worked well in his favor (but for awhile, was a little scary).
Cheers,
Tia
That's good advice from the perspective of someone writing the blog. The major problem (as bizchickblogs mentioned) isn't the subject or your point of view but the comments mess that will inevitably come should you keep tackling the controversial subjects bearing in mind that when you write something then you are going to attract the opinions of extreme people on opposite sides of the argument. And the internet has this funny knack of getting the nutters (for want of a better word) to participate.
As far as my reality concerns:
blogging invites nothing but bad people or people who will pick your posts apart looking for the slightest negative thing said so if I feel I have to say something I wil keep it as short as possible or not at all since I usually suck at summerizing anything.
Nice tips guy but i hate controversial writing. I know such a topic is the sway in the folk but comes with lots of confusions. I believe in peaceful blogging that doesn’t hurt anybody’s feeling.