They made a career with their opinions: An exploratory study of reader perception of credibility of high-status bloggers

The 21st century has developed so quickly digitally that information spreads so quickly through e-word-of-mouth. To effectively communicate, companies have to find a way to spread their own messages in a fast, unique way to entice their publics. In the fashion industry, instead of using their own websites and social media, which can be viewed as untrustworthy, many companies turn to partnerships with high-status (career) bloggers in order to reach more people. These high-status bloggers have made careers out of their sites, bringing in a salary through advertising, sponsored content and brand partnerships. The purpose of this study was to find if these bloggers were still seen as a credible source for information when readers knew about their ‘status’ and earnings, especially how their salary was made. Initial research made the researcher suspect that the bloggers would not be seen as a credible source. However, the participants focused their responses on their feelings of pride for these amateurs who had made a career out of their opinions, and that as long as they remained as open and authentic as when their blog first started, the bloggers’ credibility would remain intact. This exploratory research found that the source credibility theory remained true in this digital context, and also provides different sub-factors of credibility for the source of career blogs