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As a geeky introvert who has made a grand effort to create a geeky safe space to call home, it’s hard to have people I don’t know over. It’s like allowing the unknown into my home. Who are you? What do you like? What if you hate everything I love? Now you’re in my space and we’re both uncomfortable.

I’ve spent so much of my life trying to fit in and not really being myself that I have completely lost interest in all pretense. So whenever someone wants to come over who doesn’t understand the way of the geek I get a bit of anxiety at having to entertain in my safe space while not completely being myself.

Does anyone feel the same way? How do you entertain when you don’t know someone in your party?

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Being an influencer – even a baby influencer –  is tricky. As a blogger who influences people to live their best geeky lives, I recognize the responsibility and wanted to have some way to show my readers that my intentions are first and foremost to inspire, encourage, educate, and excite. Influencing you (my amazing readers) to purchase things you may see and love on my blog comes last, but – realistically speaking – is inevitable.

 

This is why I searched for a code of ethics I could keep on my blog. This is my promise to you that I will always seek to inspire and encourage you to live your best geeky life based on my own life experiences. It is important for me to always be super transparent about where I’m coming from. If I could potentially make money from a link, I will say so. If there is any hint of bias in something I say or feature, I will also make that perfectly clear. And lastly, I will never speak with absolute authority on things that should always remain opinions. If I say something that makes you think, but also helps you improve your life, then I have done my job. But if I promote something on this blog, you can rest assured I have used and like the product, ordered from the website, or loved the clothes. Period.

 

The most important thing to me is that my blog always remain beautiful and full of useful information to add value to your geeky life. Aesthetic is important to me, and I know it’s important to you. This is why you will NEVER find random annoying ads plastered all over my website. There is nothing I hate more than visiting a blog for information and having to fight my way through recklessly-placed ads that have no relevance to the blog or to what I need from that blog at that time. It looks horrible and it negatively affects my reader experience. I spend more time trying to avoid the ads than I do actually reading about the topic at hand. And let me say that I have never, ever, clicked on any one of those ads. In fact, more time than not, I’ve clicked off the page before I finish the post and found another post to read. Surely the blogger doesn’t want that for their blog.

 

At any rate, you will never have to wrestle through a landmine of ads in order to experience my geeky content. My purpose in having a blog is to encourage you to live your best geeky life, and you can’t do that if you accidentally clock off the page to an irrelevant ad. Any image posted for advertising purposes will be intentionally designed by me to fit the aesthetic of this blog. You will not scroll and accidentally click on an ad by mistake. I will not interrupt your reading experience with an unrelated ad – it is more important to me that you find the information you are looking for, first. Also, I will never mislead or attempt to trick you into clicking on something you aren’t interested in so that I can earn $.05. It’s just not worth it to me. 

 

In that same vein, I will create and maintain an updated page of affiliations, partnerships, and sponsors in order to keep this blog transparent. And also to pay bills, let’s be real. But you will always know there’s an ad and, as this blog grows, there will be a specific section on my blog dedicated to all the geeky things you can find and purchase.

 

With that being, said, please view the code below as my promise to my amazing geeky community and know that I take this responsibility very seriously.

Influencer Code of Ethics

As an Influencer (a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media as a blogger, a video blogger, a podcaster, a microblogger or a general social media participant) you play an important role in public knowledge creation and discussion. This role carries with it a responsibility to be fair, honest, truthful, and respectful toward your fellow members of society and toward facts. The content you create today can outlast both the content’s relevance and your own lifetime and it is of vital importance it be a truthful representation of the topic at hand for those who access it today and those who access it in the future.

 

Above all else your job as an Influencer is to present fact as fact and opinion as opinion.

 

To this end we have created this Influencer Code of Ethics which outlines ethical guidelines for Influencers. The Influencer Code of Ethics is inspired by the Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators which in turn is closely based on the Code of Ethics for the Norwegian Press published by the Norwegian Press Association and adhered to by all members of the Norwegian press.

  1. It is your right to voice your opinion. Freedom of Speech, Information, Publication and Expression are basic elements of a democracy. It is your obligation to use and protect these rights at all times.
  2. Be critical of everything, even yourself. You are part of the creation of free knowledge and discussion. It is your obligation to shed critical light on what goes on in society as well as how Influencers, including yourself, are presenting and influencing these events.
  3. Use your power to protect. You can shine a light on injustices and neglect perpetrated against individuals and groups. Use this power wisely.
  4. Tell the truth at all times. With great power comes great responsibility. Words and images are powerful weapons that should be used with the utmost care. When publishing content, present the facts as they are, even if you disagree with them.
  5. Present your opinion as your opinion. Your opinion and interpretation of events is important and should be shared but must never be confused with hard facts or data. When voicing your own or someone else’s opinion or interpretation, state it as such. Never present opinion, interpretation or conjecture as fact.
  6. State your allegiances to stay independent. To preserve your own trustworthiness and integrity as an Influencer, always state any relation – financial, personal, political or otherwise – to the subject or topic you are presenting. Bias, even if only perceived as such, discredits you and your content unless it is clearly stated. If you have a political affiliation that colours your judgment, say so; if you are employed by or received money from the subject you are covering, say so; if you were given gifts, samples, temporary access, or other preferential treatment in return for a review or commentary, say so. By stating these facts of allegiance, your opinions gain informational value that would otherwise be lost in suspicion of bias.
  7. Reveal your sources unless doing so can harm your sources. Always reveal your sources to ensure transparency unless doing so may put the source in harm’s way. In ensuring transparency you lend credibility to your own content and provide others the capability to further pursue the facts of the matter.
  8. Be critical of your sources and seek independent verification. Even if you are ethical and unbiased there is no guarantee your sources are. Before presenting information as fact, check the credibility of your sources and seek independent verification of facts. If none can be found, state so clearly.
  9. Give credit where credit is due. Give proper attribution when using, quoting, or basing your content on the work of others. Present quotes as quotes, provide links to original materials, give media (audio, video, photo, graphic) credit to the original creator etc.
  10. Preserve the intended meaning of a given statement. When quoting or paraphrasing a statement, ensure the intended meaning is communicated. Never edit or change a statement in such a way that the intended meaning is changed.
  11. Give your opponent a chance to respond. The foundation of an open discussion is to give either side an opportunity to voice their opinion. Always provide an opportunity for your opponent to present the case of the opposing side.

Admit and correct your mistakes. When an inaccuracy or error in your content is discovered by you or someone else, correct it immediately and announce that you have done so. The onus is on you to ensure those who base their opinions and other content creation on incorrect information you’ve published have a chance to make corrections to their content. It is your duty to uphold the truth and present fact even if that means admitting you were wrong.

Credits

The Influencer Code of Ethics was originally written by Morten Rand-Hendriksen.

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