Travel Blogs: National Geographic Traveler and The Letter “S”

We were quoted in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of National Geographic Traveler article “Blogs: The Caveat.” Overall, it’s a well considered piece with some good advice. In a nutshell, the article focuses on the need for readers to remember that bloggers may be getting compensated for the posts they write and to gather information from multiple sources.

I had a debate just the other day with a relative who said “I don’t trust blogs” and I said. “No, you don’t trust BLOG.” Kill that “s” on the end. As the article says, you have to read more than one to truly know if a hotel or resort is really good or bad. The NGT piece should have been titled: “Blog: The Caveat.”

All in all, I think the whole “don’t trust the blogosphere” mantra in the popular press to be overdone. Here’s why:

1) The vast majority of bloggers aren’t shills. The risk of being “gamed” by a blogger is very low. I don’t brand sushi as evil because you have to be careful when eating it.

2) No rational person reads just one blogger’s thoughts and then packs their bags to go to a recommended destination.

3) I’ve worked with a lot of journalists and print publications over the years, and don’t feel the integrity level of traditional press necessarily eclipses that of bloggers. To the contrary, I find the biases of traditional press to be pervasive, and far more slickly shrouded.

One tip: Try sites like Opinmind.com to test for multiple bloggers assessments (good and bad) on popular places and products.