Are blogs trustworthy sources of information? It's a question raised again and again, as people are trying to figure out what sort of world this new information landscape will lead us to. In "Three lies about social software" JP Rangaswami debunks a few persistent myths:

Lie 2: Social software is full of inaccuracies and downright lies If anything, social software is more honest than MSM when it comes to factual errors. They get corrected. And the original error-prone version disappears.With MSM on the other hand, the lie is printed and continues to be an archived lie. And while you may get a retraction or correction, it tends to appear on page 32 sandwiched between dog shampoo ads and undertaker recruitment campaigns.

Lie 1: Social software causes groupthink and herd behaviour
"The wisdom of crowds comes not from the consensus decision of the group, but from the aggregation of the ideas/thoughts/decisions of each individual in the group," Rangaswami quotes from Kathy Sierra. He goes on to say that: "The 'team' represented by a given blog community is actually a collection of incredibly diverse people, with common interests rather than common views... Humanity is a collection of individuals. A very long tail"

Do check out the full post, excellent food for thought, as so often from Rangaswami...