People, especially bloggers and news reporters, are often criticised for writing about controversal matters. So today I would like to have a look on the effects of what controversy in a post can do to a blog (though of course it can relate to a large variety of other areas too).
What is Controversy?
First, as always, it is important to take a look at the meaning of the word controversy.
“A dispute, especially a public one, between sides holding opposing views.
The act or practice of engaging in such disputes: writers skilled at controversy.”
“Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion.”
“Controversy is a matter of opinion which is voiced publically, often with the purpose of gaining attention.”
Shane Hudson (me)
There are many kinds of controversy, on the internet it includes: posts on small blogs which result in a spike of traffic which quickly disappears, posts on popular blogs which everyone then remembers that blog for, and big debates that spread all over the internet.
Examples Of Controversy
I am going to start by showing you some of these “big debates that spread all over the internet”. Before you look at them, can you think of any?
Windows Vs Linux Vs Mac OS
If you are “tech savvy” like I am then you will not need any explanations about this. The debate over Operating Systems has spread to almost every single technological forum and blog on the web. There are a variety of “sides” for this debate, every operating system that has been made has its supporters (including those that like XP but cannot stand Vista et cetera) and there are also many people (of which I include myself) who strongly believe that each OS has its advantages and disadvantages and are “sick to death” of the debate.
Why is this controversial? Because it is a large debate that consists of many people with strong opinion which they publically voice. In fact, this has become so extreme (in terms of flaming) that on some forums that has the option of showing which Operating System you use, many people refuse to answer. This, on a lower scale, is also true for internet browsers.
World of Warcraft Vs Runescape
Carrying on from the view of somebody that visits a lot of tech forums, there is another controversy between those that play World of Warcraft and Runescape. Once again, this often results in massive threads that basically spam and flame (the art of being horrible would be one way to describe flaming) everybody’s opinion of each game. They each, or at least always used to, have some very strongly minded supporters.
Controversial Blogs
There are a large variety of blogs that are either usually controversial or have written posts in the past that come under that category. I shall not name any on here as that could result in Success Circuit being known for writing controversial posts, which is not something I intend to do! However, there are many blogs that write some posts for two particular reasons: to criticise and to gain attention.
Some blogs only do this once, this can either result in a lot of readers for a long time or just a large peak in visitors that soon disappears. Other blogs make a habit of being controversial and are known for it.
The Effects of Controversy
As you can see from the first two examples, some online debates have become very strongly opinionated and are often discussed. Although this may seem to be bad for the companies that behind the controversial attacks, it actually can be beneficial. With threads on forums and posts on blogs being published all the time about each example, it actually keeps each company in the public’s eye and often even results in traditional media attention.
Controversy in blogs (as mentioned above) is often beneficial but it is important to remember that it is better to write posts that helps readers than writing posts that criticises other people/companies/blogs just for the attention.
Conclusion
Personally I believe that although controversy is occasionally beneficial, honesty is more efficient. In some cases these may overlap, if so then go for it! But if you are thinking about writing something controversial just in hope of it bringing you more visitors and publicity.. well then I would advise you to instead write something more useful.
What do you think? Have you every written something controversial? Did it improve your blog or give it a bad name?
I mean i wrote a post a few days back about too many opinions on the internet because i thought a lot of people and bloggers were abusing their priviledge of criticizing everything, so i believe if a post is written to address that behaviour and it takes catchs fire, so what if it is controversial, sometimes the truth has to be said although i believe in the truth, the message needs to be presented in a respectable manner.
I've heard someone famous once say, “controversy creates cash”, just thought i'd share that quote…. even though I can't personally say that I've really written on anything controversial or anything that comes to mind.
Till then,
Jean
I completely agree. I have nothing against controversy… as long as it is written for a purpose and not just for the media attention.
That is one way of looking at it. But scamming also “creates cash”, does not mean that you should do it though. As I have already said, I believe that controversy is fine if it is written for the reader, not for the attention of social media et cetera.
Hi Shane — I really like your definition:
'Controversy is a matter of opinion which is voiced publically, often with the purpose of gaining attention'
SPOT ON in my opinion.
Controversy has been used since beginning of time to get Publicity – it often works when other things don't – but of course you have to be prepared for when it occasionally backfires
Hi Barry, thanks for commenting.
I am glad you agree with my definition and I completely agree that people should be prepared for the backfire. Although some people do write it just for publicity, some people write great posts without the intent of controversy or attention which is completely fine in my opinion… I just cannot tand it when people write controversial posts just for the publicity!
I like the conclusion. Works for me. When I do want controversy I talk about American Politics,any war,and women in general. By the way all three have one thing common to a car. Sooner or later it's going to give you trouble
That's true Shane, and yeah I definitely don't believe in scamming
Till then,
Jean
Choose a interesting topic of controversy. Yes, controversy bringing you publicity.