Blogging, Strategy
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Blogging: Discernment vs Authenticity

Posted by John Saddington on Nov 2, 2009

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I had a blog post the other day that I wanted to personally clarify highlighting honesty as the best policy.

Being honest doesn’t equal tell-all. In other words, being authentic in the social media space requires, most of all, wisdom and discernment and whatever makes it through that particular gate or filter then needs to be presented as true.

One of the ways that I’ve thought about it in particular is about the amount of “damage” (we call it “effectiveness” in business-speak) that can be reasonably created by social media and blogging. An internal processing that I personally use:

How much disunity will this particular post create?

And see, that’s the thing. It’s not a question of what you could do, it’s what you should do. There is really no perfect answer to what you should and what you shouldn’t post. Each blogger will do what he’s convicted to do.

One of the other best “catches” is asking someone else’s opinion, especially someone who is not like you in demeanor and personality. For example, my wife is the best drafting floor before publishing anything.

How are you discerning the difference between discernment and authenticity in the social space?

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John Saddington

John is the Chief Editor @ The 8BIT Network and Senior Blog Junkie here at ChurchCrunch.He enjoys Triple-Tall Americanos, developing Wordpress Themes, and a few other Random Things.

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5 Responses to “Blogging: Discernment vs Authenticity”

  1. Mike Filicicchia
    Monday, November 2, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    Awesome post, John. This question goes way, way beyond social media and into the fabric of each and every conversation we have. It is good to make ourselves known, but only if it is a loving act to another.

    Reply
  2. Danny Bixby
    Monday, November 2, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    You need a "like" button for your posts. That would make things easier :)

    Reply
  3. Kyle Reed
    Monday, November 2, 2009 at 10:25 pm

    Cleared up a lot. Thanks.

    The difference between authenticity and discernment is very difficult. i want to be honest and authentic, but sometimes I have to be discerning in the way that I show that. I had a conversation with someone who had known me through the blog world and then we later met in person. They said that i was a completely different person. Online I was a bit harsh and sometimes abrasive, but in person I was completely different, that i was a calming influence. They did a double take to make sure I was the same person.
    I never knew that I came across that way at all until that conversation. I always thought I was discerning but authentic as well, it was a big slap in the face of how "honest" and "authentic" I was online and I made sure that I looked through everything I was posting and how it sounded.

    Reply

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