Well, not when it comes to the opinion of bloggers anyway.  According to some research folk (you can see graphs here).  The link points to the blog of Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior Analyst of Social Computing at Forrester Research (how does one get that job?).  In the post, he specifically looks at 3 different reports that show people trust the opinions of bloggers the least.

My response to this? “Well duh” and maybe even a “We needed reports to show this?”

Bloggers are people, and the average person does not know too much about a blogger so the trust level is low by default.  Now, a blogger can build trust among their readership but this is few and far between.  The opinions of a blogger are just that, an opinion.  And to many it is the opinion of a stranger.  Also blogs are still considered by most to be a “new” form of media so a blog will not garner the same level of trust as say a well known magazine or newspaper.

I wonder how these reports translate to the blogs of popular newspapers.  Does the blogger from the New York Times have more default trust than say someone like me?  I wonder what the pshycological implications are with regards to having your blog hosted on the newyorktimes.com.  I wonder if they carry more weight with the average consumer than just a stand alone blog.

If you are a blogger looking to build your credibility, take a look at this Speed Post article over at Problogger entitled, How do I Build Credibility and Presence Online.