After much thought and after attending the Sponsored vs Unsponsored session at BlogHer 09 I have decided that I will not be participating in the PR Blackout that the MomDot community has decided to participate in and here are the reasons behind my decision...
I love doing reviews of products that I can then turn around and share with anyone and everyone who wants to listen. I've always been the type, as far back at elementary school, to share products and trends with everyone around me with pure and honest excitement and feel good that I was doing my friends and family a favor of finding the best products before they had to waste money on all of "mistakes."
The PR firms I have worked with have always been great! Not once have I felt taken advantage of by a PR firm that I have worked with because it is my choice to review or not review a product and it is my choice even accept the product in the first place.
During the Sponsored vs Unsponsored seminar at BlogHer 09, a few representatives were in the room and they said that they have had bloggers that were asked to do a review for them and for one reason or another the reviewer emailed them saying that they could not fit it into their schedule and would have to decline to try the product. Was the blogger black listed and never called again to do another review from their company? No. The reps are humans with feelings too and understand that bloggers are also humans with a lot on their plate and that we can't do everything and that's ok and they also realize we have a powerful voice...otherwise they would not be coming to us to review their products.
So basically, I'm not doing the PR Blackout because I will choose when to say no, I will choose when to write on my blogs and I will be my own person in the blogging world and play by my own rules.
Where do you stand?
well, you know EXACTLY where i stand! good for you, woman!! playing by your own rules is how it SHOULD be! that's why i know we are going to get along amazingly!!
ReplyDeletexoxo
This is the same decision I made long ago and I am happy with it, no blackout but I just turn down when I want and that is actually a lot lately and I am still contacted by them.
ReplyDeleteBeing your own person in the blogging world is key :)
Love it! My opinion is that a lot of bloggers are following in the blackout as sheep. Follow the herd thinking maybe they are making a bold statement. I mean be your own person rather than a person who seems to think that the WHOLE world revolves around a little blog. But hey, I didn't go to BlogHer, I don't sit on the MomDot forums all day, I have asked for help and connections in blogging and if I get it great, if not, I know who and who not to ask.
ReplyDeleteI'm right with you. After I got done with my blog party a few weeks ago I was burnt out. I work FT as well as being a single mom so I created a media kit and I've sent it out to everyone approaching me for a review. Yes, they've dropped, but my time is valuable. I've scaled down alot but it's all good!
ReplyDeleteI'm with ya! I've left pretty much the same comment everywhere on how I feel about this blackout... my biggest problem is how it makes "mommy" bloggers look weak and whiney.
ReplyDeleteYou don't see tech/gadget, entertainment or social media bloggers, for example staging blackouts because they can't handle all that blogging entails.
I resent, as a mom who blogs, being looked upon as weak and whiney. I know and do say "no", it's easy... try it sometime.
Your post is dead on - don't be a lemming. :-)
I totally agree with you. I just heard about the PR Blackout during BlogHer and have to say I'm not participating. I write what I write on my blog and I write what I want to write on my blog. I review the products I want to review and skip the ones I don't. Bottom line is - I have not had any problems with any of the PR people I have worked with and they have been completely understanding when I fall behind. I don't have anything to complain about, there fore I have no reason to participate in the PR Blackout.
ReplyDeleteAloha Courtney! So nice to finally meet you a Blogher!
ReplyDeleteI am a friend of Trisha's and a part of the momdot community. I am not a lemming, though. Quite the contrary, I am a very independent perseon, actually, as I believe I showed this past weekend.
I only hate that if I am friend with momdot, ppl say I am a follower...that really bugs! You didn't say it, but Donna did (and I love Donna too!) However, people need to be careful with what words they throw around. I know Donna wouldn't call me whiny or a lemming to my face (or to my blog). It made me sad to see that.
The idea of the blackout was great (I was there when it started) but I feel the communication got lost when Trisha's post was written...and that is what comunication is about - what the person on the other ends gets from what you write or say. So to that end, it was a fail. Even Trisha admits that.
In any case, I was happy to meet you in person this past weekend!!! talk soon, Sarah
@Sarah - Oh, my no I wouldn't call you whiny (no more so than me or any other person from one time or another - I've been known to whine on occasion). I actually wasn't referring to any one community, btw. I think sometimes there is a group mentality - and everyone gets caught up in it.
ReplyDeleteI most definitely did not mean to offend anyone. The whole matter of the blackout just upsets me as I stated. I don't think Trisha meant for it to look bad on "mommy" bloggers... but it does.
I do apologize to you because I know enough about you from your blog and Twitter to know you are a very strong and self sufficient woman - why I like you!
I do believe, however, that some people do go along with whatever others do, so they will fit in. But trust me -- I know YOU are not one of them. :-) Please forgive me!
Thanks Donna.
ReplyDeleteNo hard feelings.
I know you weren't intending to offend me or call me a lemming but in social medai you do not always know who is part of what movement so tread lightly with broad strokes.
To be perfectly honest, I am not partaking in the PRBO, haven't even blogged about it but I do support anyone that will be doing it.
I do believe, as it's been shown by everyone riding the PRBO bandwagon, the conversation needed to be had.