Do your blog posts have laugh lines?

A fashion magazine article praising laugh lines surprised me. What about all those years of magazines slamming “laugh lines” as “crow’s feet”? And, what can this reversal tell you about your blog posts?

Here’s part of a crow’s feet apology in “For the love of laugh lines” in Allure (sorry, it’s not freely available online).

We shouldn’t have called them “scary crevices.” But we did, in 2006, and then we doubled down with: “The most evil eye skin problems can be combated–without voodoo.” So bonus points for being creepy and weird! Then we just got personal (in the same story): “You don’t have to be a chronic squinter like George W. to end up with crow’s-feet.”

Oh my! It wasn’t very nice what they said in 2006, was it?

In 2018, Allure has seen the light. The author quotes dermatologist Ranella Hirsch saying, “More than any other wrinkle, crow’s-feet are expressive. I often say, ‘Trying to emote without facial expressions is like trying to text without emojis.'”

Later, the article quotes psychologist Alexander Todorov “…we tend to believe genuine smiles are accompanied by crow’s-feet.”

What does this have to do with blogging? I believe that, just as an imperfect facial surface can make your smile seem more genuine, less-than-totally-polished writing can make you seem more real and approachable. That’s an asset. A few imperfections act as “laugh lines.” Showing personality in your blog posts helps as I discussed in How to add personality and warmth to your financial writing–Part one.

Do your blog posts have laugh lines?