Do mommy bloggers need to grow up?
I can has free stuff in the mail?
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET News)How acceptable is it for independent bloggers to accept free products and other giveaways? It's been a heated discussion of late.
Now MomDot, a community site for the ever-expanding corps of "mommy bloggers," has decided to encourage its followers to spend a week ignoring the PR and marketing industries altogether.
"MomDot is challenging bloggers to participate for one week in August in a 'PR Blackout' challenge where you do not blog any giveaways, any reviews, and zero press releases," the post on Monday announced. "In fact, we don't want you to talk to PR at all that whole week. We want to see your blog naked, raw, and back to basics. Talk about your kids, your marriage, your college, your hopes, your dreams, your house and whatever you can come up with for one week."
A week. A whole week that they can't write about PR pitches and stuff that's been sent to them for free. Quel horreur, right?
It's suggested as a solution to "bloggy burnout," or the notion that "mom bloggers are simply doing too much," but it's impossible to take a "PR Blackout" out of the context of the controversy over blogger freebies. This has all been front and center for a few weeks, once it was revealed that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was considering including bloggers under guidelines that ban deceptive or unfair business practices. Basically, this means that if a blogger writes about a product that was given away for free or with any added compensation, that must be disclosed. "Mommy blogs," written by and catering to a demographic that's an obvious marketer's paradise, have found themselves in the crosshairs.
I don't have kids, and even if I did I don't think I'd blog much about them out of the concern that their future sixth-grade classmates would find a way to use it as blackmail, so maybe I'm not at liberty to judge. But I think MomDot is sort of missing the point. Working with the public relations industry is core to any journalist's (and now blogger's) job, as is the use of press releases and in some cases review products. What MomDot is assuming is that "mommy bloggers" are simply rehashing press releases and posting photos of stuff they got for free, turning less into independent bloggers and more into PR mouthpieces.
That's a little bit insulting, in my opinion, to the scores of smart, funny, and critical bloggers who happen to write about their lifestyles as mothers. Many of these women are blogging as a side project while they take time off from very successful corporate careers to focus on raising their kids. I'm not all that well schooled in which mommy blogs are worth reading, but I'm willing to bet that plenty of them are willing to read a press release or play with a new product and promptly write about how stupid they think it is.
It seems like this is a case where a few bad eggs are spoiling the omelet, or however that old saying goes. The problem isn't PR, but bloggers who are working with it in a less-than-sincere way.
The FTC's proposed new rule, and MomDot's reaction to all the buzz about it, does highlight some real problems (never mind how difficult it'll be to police thousands of blogs). It can be a very questionable marketing strategy to offer bloggers free stuff simply so that they'll write about it, but with the digital age offering anyone a mouthpiece and an audience, I'm afraid it's a strategy that's here to stay. But I don't think the real problem is the giveaways themselves, although some of the reports of free Caribbean cruise vacations are worth raising a few eyebrows over. The issue is which of the recipients of everything from e-mailed press releases to movie tickets to kiddie-toy test products are really just acting as marketing outlets, and which ones aren't.
It's not restricted to moms who blog. Tech bloggers have often been accused of doing the same thing with regard to free gadgets--as when Microsoft courted bloggers with copies of Windows Vista that just happened to be loaded on souped-up Acer Ferrari laptops. I don't get a whole lot of review products here at CNET since I cover the Web and media rather than hardware, but our gadget reviewers have a policy of packaging everything back up and shipping it back once their reviews are complete.
Beyond my own industry, I see posts and Twitter tweets about trips, free gadgets, and other giveaways coming from prominent folk in social media, with the obvious intent that the company or agency behind it simply wants them to write about it and have their digital reach act as an advertising outlet, and I tend to think less of their blogging prowess when they don't seem willing to turn a critical eye to any of it.
Izea, for example, the marketing company that's become one of the most prominent faces of blogger giveaways, says it supports the FTC investigation and requires all bloggers to disclose compensation and freebies, but has also acknowledged that for at least one giveaway it avoided including bloggers who might have given the client negative press. Disclosure in these situations is obviously important. So is a general, blogosphere-wide awareness that marketers are chomping at the bit for their audiences. Some bloggers will be fine with this. Others will rightly see this as a need for some sort of community-wide guidelines to be put in place. I know there's been talk of this.
The encouragement to "write about your family, not giveaways" is admirable. But the reality is that many of these bloggers have turned anecdotes about parenting into a full-fledged business, and working with PR is part of the game. The likes of MomDot should be encouraging quality content, media savviness, and best practices, rather than a "PR blackout" that misses the point.
And--just a thought--maybe the real solution to "bloggy burnout" is taking a few days away from the keyboard and spending a little bit of extra time with your kids.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
The Mommy Bloggers I interact with are all above-board and there is never a lack of freedom on what they write about or how they write about products I send them.
There are plenty of shady PR folks out there...but I think this is a misplaced "protest" aimed at a few bloggers who do not produce their own independent thought. What about helping bloggers develop better content? There's a novel idea!
Again, the PR industry is the brunt of a misplaced protest.
Thanks for discussing it here and for talking about the interdependencies between journalists/bloggers and public relations professionals.
Since I deal primarily with software companies, I rarely run into the giveaway issue, though we do sometimes provide early beta access to readers of particular outlets. That generally comes at the tail-end of a review, and isn't dependent on a positive write-up.
Success with mommy bloggers has been a key element in growth among an audience not as well addressed by many of the Valley blogs with whom we otherwise interact. For example, the fastest growing segment of Mint.com's audience is women over 30 -- and we've worked extensively with lifestyle magazines and mommy bloggers to help achieve that.
While Caroline's encouragement of quality content, media-savviness, and best practices among the bloggers, PR people also need to be held to similar standards, rather than looking to mommy bloggers as free coverage in exchange for free product.
really interesting!
I smell jealousy that they have to work thile this mommy bloger sits at home!!! haha! How lame!!!
One word: Disclosure.
If there isn't any, then it's just a bald shill-***-blogger doing the talking - something that, incidentally, is explicitly forbidden on television, radio, and damned near any other broadcast media means.
If the bloggers disclose all the stuff/money/whatever they got from a company, and where they ultimately got it from, no problem. OTOH, there doesn't seem to be too much of that going on, if a cursory skim of these blogs are any indication.
Otherwise, I could, as a dishonest company, just dispense a few freebies to some prominent bloggers and get a better return on investment than I would from buying advert time, and not have to worry about such niceities as, oh, FTC regulations prohibiting false advertising.
Say: "oh, that crib that everyone keeps clamoring for a recall on doesn't collapse and kill your baby! I use it all the time and my baby girl is perfectly happy and healthy - she just loves playing in it!" (as said blogger checks her PayPal account for an incoming deposit from Acme Baby Furniture, LLC...)
"You wouldn't tolerate a columnist pulling a stunt like that in the Sunday paper, would you? So why would you tolerate some paid shill to do the same thing online?"
Geez guys - fix your filter already and get your minds out of the gutter.
I always tell my bloggers that I want their honest opinion only. With each blog tour I organize, there are usually a couple bloggers who are neutral or negative about a product and that is OK. Their review is still posted. An author who blog toured recently told me that she was actually glad for a neutral review because it was starting to look "stacked" with all the bloggers who liked the book.
The bloggers I work with seem to value honesty above everything and they know that their readers are counting on them. Most of them have regular readers and they risk (if posting a good review about a bad product) those readers coming back and calling them on it.
I don't think that free product necessarily sways the vote-at least not the bloggers whom I have worked with.
@juliebonnheath
It's no ones fault but their own if they get burnt out or if their blog is taken over by reviews and giveaways. I fixed mine and now do 1 maybe 2 tops giveaways and/or reviews a week if that. It's my choice and does me no good to blame others or give up a review for a week when my blog is pretty much all personal stuff anyways
And I agree about disclosing, I always make sure to say that I was contacted and asked to review such and such so I hope that with that wording they understand it was free. I also think that a friend of mine came up with a great idea about "ranking" your reviews with some type of rank such as P for payment received for this post, PR product received in exchange for this post, G for giveaway from a company and SBG for self bought giveaway or something like that LOL .
I think it's all about honesty and adjustments personally plain and simple
The FTC, the opposed bloggers, and much of the mainstream media are not suggesting that Tiger Woods is unethical if he's branded head to toe, or that any one of a dozen popular Nascar drivers might not be objective if s/he wants to have an engine under the hood and paints an ad on the door... But a "mommy blogger" who receives anything in conjunction with her blog is viewed as suspect.
I suspect there will always be those in any profession who are less than objective when it comes to the potential of money or goods - but to pretend that an entire group (whose only true commonalities are often offspring & a website) is subject to parroting a Brand message is disingenuous at best, disgusting at worst.
Thank you for such an excellent and insightful analysis.
Anyone can be bought - the question is, at what price?
Take the following - the old tale of a well-dressed older gent and a pretty young lady at a bar:
OldGuy: 'Miss, would you sleep with me for one million dollars in cash?'
YoungLady: 'Well, I... Err... I mean, if you had the money up-front, umm...'
OldGuy: 'I certainly have it, but would you then sleep with me the next night for $5?'
YoungLady: 'What th- Hey! What do you think I am, a *****!?'
OldGuy: 'We've already established the answer to that question, miss. Now we're just haggling over the price.'
;)
I'm familiar with the 'joke' - but you've just implied that all women are ******. Try again.
Just because you have decided that some women have a price? Doesn't mean that "anyone" does.
But way to reinforce the "women are simply prostituting themselves, some do it for paper towels, some have a higher price" stereotype. Makes you kind of wonder if you'd say the same thing about your own mother or your daughter. Somehow, I doubt it.
Because the reality is that women aren't that stupid - especially those intelligent enough to build a community and write compellingly and with authenticity.
I would like to add, though, that just as there are a small minority of bloggers who are making enough money to envy, or perhaps a cadre who may be unwilling to write anything negative about a product they got for free, there are also plenty of PR people who could stand to "grow up" a little as well. You would be shocked by the number of pitches I've received (and I have a small-time blog) from people who send me press releases and offer to give me pre-written articles to post, all couched in language as if they are doing me a favor by providing me with content, rather than acknowledging what they are really doing, which is hoping I will use my blog to give their product completely free advertising. There is NOTHING in their approach that acknowledges that my blog is personal and built on a community of readers whom I know and like and who trust and like me. Rather, they treat the blog as simply a venue for commercial messages, and seem unaware that most small bloggers carefully cultivate not consumers or clients but readers they actually value personally.
If moms who blog should be held accountable for large-scale perks they may receive in doing product reviews, should be transparent in acknowledging what they have gotten for free, and should be bound by some professional guidelines that help avoid false advertising (and I think we should), then it is also the case that PR firms need to recognize that bloggers' time is valuable and that the very personal nature of these spaces which makes them so valuable as venues for marketing messages also means that we need to be taken seriously as individuals, rather than treated simply as a commodity to exploit.
BUT, while I am not going to be participating in the PR Blackout from Momdot, I do understand where Trisha is coming from. I started off a little bit different in the respect that I was a review blogger who turned into a mom blogger, but a lot of mom bloggers started personal and then were tapped by PR to promote products. For some, if not many, it has been hard to find a balance of working on their own personal articles and trying to keep up with the PR stuf they are sent. And, while I am not participating, if people feel the need to get back to their blogging roots they should do it.
Many bloggers I know get a ton of PR releases in their email and get pitched everything from organic applesauce to smiley face bobbles, and truthfully none of use have the time to do it all...we are after all...MOMS. So, if this PR blackout helps other mom bloggers to re-focus on what they want from their site and for their readers I am not going to be against it or think badly about anyone who does want to be a part.
PS-Momdot does encourage media saavy, quality content, and informed bloggers, and Trisha is one of the most helpful bloggers out there and really does her best to help out other bloggers in the blogging and the PR world...perhaps a little more research into the person/site you are lashing out against would have been appropriate.
Victoria Arya
www.thekidsandme.com
and Yes, I am a produ member of momdot since everyone is on the full disclosure bandwagon.
She is one of the most ethical bloggers out there. She tries to make the internet a BETTER place for bloggers, and not just mom bloggers. Dad bloggers, family bloggers and other bloggers too.
I think her idea is fantastic. It shows people that our time and effort is valuable and we can't be expected to slap a press release on our blog for every Tom, Dick and Harry who sends one to us. We have lives! People need to be understanding of that.
Often you don't APPRECIATE how important something is to you until it's gone. Maybe companies will appreciate bloggers and their personal lives a little more and be more understanding that we can't drop everything to post for them. We're not an army of brainless robots...we are human beings with lives and families.
I have a disclosure on my blog that lets the world know that I sometimes get free products in exchange for a review, but that is it. I don't accept money for reviews or posts. Heck, I don't even have paid ads on my site! I do reviews because it's fun to learn about new products I might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about.
If somone wants to base their purchases on the OPINION of ONE person then they have issues. If doing reviews is so wrong then sites like Amazon and Circut City need to remove the feedback section on their sites or else have ever poster leave a disclaimer.
A SMART person will do their research before making a purchase. They just use OPINIONS are a guideline. That's how I see it.
The thing that is often forgotten is that bloggers are not journalists. We aren't on a payroll. We don't get a salary. When we work for PR we work for free. Sure we sometimes accept product but the value of that product rarely covers the value of the work we do to write about it.
Victoria above mentioned organic applesauce. I got that pitch and thought it was ridiculous.
#1 I don't write about applesauce I write about creativity.
#2 When I didn't respond to her off topic pitch she followed up with a second email.
#3 the 'free' applesauce she wanted to send me is not worth an hour or so of my time which I'd much rather spend with my child.
How's that for PR working with bloggers in a 'sincere way' as you put it?
Prior to the blackout idea, I decided on my own that I'd reign in the things I wrote about for PR. Now they need to be smack on target in terms of my audience and my interests for me to even consider them. When the blackout came around I thought it would be a fun way to connect with other like minded bloggers. Does it mean I never want to hear from a PR rep again? Of course not. The blackout isn't about that at all.
And to MarthAtomic - the idea that not working with PR will keep us from developing content that is important to our readers is crazy. We don't need to get our post ideas from PR. And I'm quite certain my readers aren't upset that I didn't write about that applesauce.
Heather
www.maternalspark.com
As I wrote on my site in my "PR Brown Out" post, for mom bloggers who are working with PR agencies either for interesting content, ad revenue, review products, or fun giveaways for their readers, deciding to black them out entirely for a week and asking others to join you is biting the hand that feeds you. I respect and admire the companies with whom I work, which is why I work with them in the first place. I have committments for that week, as I do for every week, to work with clients. I also have a committment to my readers to continue to provide the content they have come to expect.
Do I think that blacking out PR for a week will end my relationship with agencies? No. Is it a fit for me or the way I work? No.
My suggestion to bloggers it that if they feel they need a PR time out, why not choose a day of posting that is just for them. Most likely their readers will enjoy getting to know the mom behind the reviewer, and for those women who began blogging not to make money or review products, but to journal their lives, they can get back to what their first love and return to the fun world of PR another day.
Perhaps some moms need to get out of the game entirely. If their own personal black out is coming from complete burn out, then maybe it's time to walk away. Most mom bloggers got online in the first place in search of fulfillment, either socially or intellectually, so that they could return to their jobs as mom/wife/partner with a refreshed energy. If instead it is dragging them down, then what is keeping them engaged?
Caroline, I love your "non-mommy blogger" view on this issue. Let's definitely keep in mind that choosing to work with PR more, less, or not at all does not in any way reflect on a person's honesty and transparency. While the two conversations certainly can be had in the same space, the issues of being burnt out or being bought out are certainly not always related.
As I wrote on my site in my "PR Brown Out" post, for mom bloggers who are working with PR agencies either for interesting content, ad revenue, review products, or fun giveaways for their readers, deciding to black them out entirely for a week and asking others to join you is biting the hand that feeds you. I respect and admire the companies with whom I work, which is why I work with them in the first place. I have committments for that week, as I do for every week, to work with clients. I also have a committment to my readers to continue to provide the content they have come to expect.
Do I think that blacking out PR for a week will end my relationship with agencies? No. Is it a fit for me or the way I work? No.
My suggestion to bloggers it that if they feel they need a PR time out, why not choose a day of posting that is just for them. Most likely their readers will enjoy getting to know the mom behind the reviewer, and for those women who began blogging not to make money or review products, but to journal their lives, they can get back to what their first love and return to the fun world of PR another day.
Perhaps some moms need to get out of the game entirely. If their own personal black out is coming from complete burn out, then maybe it's time to walk away. Most mom bloggers got online in the first place in search of fulfillment, either socially or intellectually, so that they could return to their jobs as mom/wife/partner with a refreshed energy. If instead it is dragging them down, then what is keeping them engaged?
Caroline, I love your "non-mommy blogger" view on this issue. Let's definitely keep in mind that choosing to work with PR more, less, or not at all does not in any way reflect on a person's honesty and transparency. While the two conversations certainly can be had in the same space, the issues of being burnt out or being bought out are certainly not always related.
That is absolutely NOT what MomDot is "assuming." In fact, it's quite the opposite! MomDot and its community members work very very hard to provide accurate, honest and thoughtful opinions, not a "rehash" of press materials.
- by sawickis July 14, 2009 1:14 PM PDT
- I agree with what doodahdiva said above.
- Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (56 Comments)MomDot is very aware of what goes into writing a good, HONEST, review.
I am not going to accept a product review for a product that I already know I won't like. Also it is very important to disclose that you received the product for free, however I am not going to write a dishonest review because I received it for free. They aren't going to come and take it back if I don't write what they would like.
Kristie