Blogs, Twitter, comments and message boards teem with diatribe blurted out before it can be given the cognition it deserves. The results range from the incomprehensible to the abusive, but how do you deal with it? And should you?

The appeal of blogs, tweets and even new tools like AudioBoo are their immediacy, their intimacy and their spur of the moment honesty. But too often those rough diamonds are lost amongst the swill of gobbledegook from the bloggosphere, twitterati and comment trolls.

With a few exceptions, devining reliable information from the web is a dark art, but one we’re mastering. At Republic Publishing we’re immensely proud of our editorial standards. None of our sites host unbalanced outbursts, un-checked sources or baseless opinion.

As old fashioned as it sounds in the shiny world of the web, they’re editorial traditions, often forgotten by online publishers, but just as valid online as in the print domain.

But that’s just the content we can control. What about reader input, or to use media parlance, “user-generated content.”

Potentially, it’s a minefield. Take the comments section of Electricpig. In the past 12 months just ten percent of comments were legitimate, and in the great scheme of the web, that’s remarkably high.

In the last year, spammers have hurled just shy of 30,000 bogus links, swearwords and gibberish its way. Easily enough to drown out valid and interesting debate. But it’s worth the effort to sift the gold dust from the silt. Engaging our audience is what makes Republic Publishing’s approach work.

We don’t just slap content on the web and hope for the best. We reach out to readers with properly planned, brilliantly executed copy, pictures and video. It’s hardly surprising they want to get involved. If only more of the web thought the same way.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, of course I planned this blog post. Fooled you though, didn’t I?

There’s an interesting piece over on EContent, posted by Jessica Howard and Justin Evans from Stresslimitdesign, that supports this notion and explores related ideas in connection to corporate blogging and social media strategies. Here’s a highlight snippet from the piece:

“What marketers and PR departments are missing is that social media can’t be used as a venue for traditional, unilateral advertising. Social media is about building trust and relationships – and people typically only stay in relationships that are mutually beneficial. Blogs are often the first step corporate brands take into the social media world, so it is important to make a positive first impression… it is important to make a positive first impression. The key to doing this is to remember that blogs work when offering an authentic and knowledgeable voice, as opposed to canned corporate messaging.

Naturally we’re only scratching the surface here, as there are so many nuances to building trust when it comes to corporate blogging as publishers, and educating some marketeers. But if I can wrap up this post with just one rule (of many) for when engaging in corporate blogging, caring about the subject matter is absolutely crucial – if, as the author, you don’t feel and believe it, guaranteed no one else will.

Share your ideas on corporate blogging in the comments section below.

Photo of lie detector from Rex Roof