Lots of talk on the scene about reviews and bloggers. Are they credible? Have bloggers, for lack of a better term, ‘sold out’ for a gift card or a free product? Or are they just business opportunities that women are taking advantage of as a tout of their success online?
A bit back we wrote an article on whether or not you believe a paid blogger pushing product and there was a LOT of response about it.
But as I sit here and munch on this brownie that was sent to me by a blogger for my birthday (no doubt by a sponsor) and read this WSJ article, (which I was interviewed for but THANK THE LORD did not have any quotes of mine in it…the article was not nice to mom bloggers) I think……if I tell you how tasty this brownie is, will you believe me? I mean, to be honest, the brownie is good, but NOT the best brownie I have ever had in my life. The packaging was darling and well put together and overall I would send it as a gift…..but it’s not my grandmothers cooking, if you know what I mean.
#1: Reviews are Ads
Lets cut to the chase. Reviews are ADS. Any blogger that doesn’t realize that is a fool or living in denial. You have a few choices as a blogger. You recognize this, capitalize and charge like an ad or you accept free product in exchange for the post. I KNOW that most bloggers state you cant buy their opinion and I truly believe that 99%…(ok, lets say 95%) of bloggers believe that when they say it, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t feel an amount of pressure to remain on a positive upswing when writing the article. I know that I feel pressure to balance it out with a positive tone, even if it has negative attributes.
I think part of the issue stems at the relationship you may have built with the PR or the business. They were so nice, it arrived in a timely manner, they kissed your butt, you feel happy someone loves you enough to send you free stuff, the whole shebang. Your relationship is playing a part in how you feel about a product as well, whether you recognize it or not. By the time it hits your doorstep, its not just a product. Its a product that “Susan” from ProductsRUs wrapped lovingly and sent with a little card on the top thanking you for your time.
What we have to remember as bloggers is that when “Joe the customer” goes to purchase that same item at ProductsRUs is he going to feel that exact amount of relationship and love, and if not, how will HE feel about the product once the fluff is stripped away.
And that is where you have to start your review.
#2 Terminology
Problem #2 is the terminology we use.
I firmly believe a review is: Pro/Con/Suggestion/Overall
I firmly believe a testimonial is: Pro Only
I think both have their place and we certainly run both here. Sometimes there just isn’t anything bad to say about a product. When a company approaches me, I look at their site and balance out if that product is something that would benefit my time, my family, and something I would be interested in testing out. If its not, I don’t take the review at all. Its not far fetched to say that most products that hit my doorstep already have passed the first test in that its something I would consider purchasing at all. This means that I already have an interest in it and therefore is most likely on its way to being positive.
On the other hand, sometimes there is so much bad to say that we don’t even want to write about it and waste our time, so we let the company know their product bit the big one and we move on. I feel no sense of obligation to write a full article on a crappy product for my visitors. I do not have time to sit here for an hour and write up something that sucks.
#3 Ethics and the FTC
Bloggers are unregulated. Do I think they should be regulated? You would be surprised to know that I back the FTC. I think the ideas are well intended in that I believe that no one should be able to say something false in an article. Newspaper and Magazine journalists have one thing bloggers dont…..credibility. A newspaper could have a circulation of 2000 and a blog can have a readership of 50K and that newspaper article still holds more weight than a blog post. I was talking to a journalist recently that told me that if a product is worth more than $25, they have to send it back when the article is written. People trust journalists. They don’t trust bloggers. And I don’t blame them.
It boils down to credibility. Bloggers are just random people. For the most part, you know nothing about the person on the other side of the computer other than the pretty template they conjured up. They could be writing their blog from the library in prison for all you know. There is zero training on how to “run a review”. There is zero accountability. There are zero consequences. But yet there are thousands and thousands of products being pushed to every blogger on the web. The reps don’t care if you suck. They just want your SEO link.
Do I think the FTC should be able to force to me to put up something negative if I don’t find something negative? Absolutely not. But I do not believe that is their intentions. What I think they are looking for is a swiping of all these posts that are just big ads and making sure if a blogger is going to talk about how amazing and awesome and brilliant a product is, they truly feel that way. They would stand in court, eat that brownie, and say it still is the best brownie they ever did taste in their life, yesserree. No one is saying its a violation of the law if you believe something.
I am OK with that.
Its like reverse slander. You cant print something negative about a business if it isn’t true-try it and see if you don’t get sued. I can’t call you a slut…if you’re not a slut. If you are a slut, its cool, but if your not, I can go to court. (That is if it ruins your business of course.) So if someone can be punished for saying something negative, it doesn’t surprise (or bother) me that there is a balance on the positive as well.
#4 Our Blog
When we started our review blog, it was due to the influx of PR and businesses that wanted review ads on our main blog. I brought on a team to do them since I am not a huge fan of reviews personally and instructed them to make sure they were honest about what they wrote. Now we have taken that one step further on our review side of the house.
We have all the girls running reviews providing a Mom Review and Mom Improvements on every review they do. That way you get the good………and the bad very simply.
You can see a sample of this HERE.
If our blog has nothing negative to say, we have changed our terminology to a testimonial.
Additionally, starting in May, I will be color coding our posts and putting a legend in so you know what they mean. Then you can easily identify posts that have been given a product to test out, have been paid to put up an ad, or have not been paid or been given a product. I will also code if we have personally purchased out of our pockets from the company.
Although we are not a review blog, we definitely host many products on our site and want you to feel comfortable if you see us talking about them. We do expect, and want, our excitement of products to be felt through the posts, but we don’t want to mislead in any shape or form if we really are not that excited about a product.
If you are a blogger, what are your rules and regulations regarding reviews and giveaways?
And remember, PitchBloggers has an ethics agreement and if you join up, we highly encourage you to show your professionalism by displaying your ethics badge.
We have to start somewhere.
~Trisha
Trisha, I agree with you 100% and I think the way you do reviews… well it is a great model for everyone. Good post!
Btw, I have been gone/busy/sick over the last couple of weeks and am playing catch up here at MomDot and am having so much fun reading all the posts I’ve missed.
Great post Trisha! I have been thinking of how to write a review on a book that I received and frankly, I did not want to waste my time or my readers’ time (the book was THAT bad). Now I think I will just let the publisher know and ask them how they would like me to proceed.
And as far as reading posts or reviews by someone who is paid to do them, especially huge bucks like Dooce, I may read them, but will I believe they were written with integrity? Probably not.
I do reviews on my site. I review things I buy myself and things that companies send me. When a company contacts me, I ask myself if it is something that myself or my family would use. I have one child: a six year old son. So you won’t find baby products or hair bows reviewed on my site. How can I test or review those products?
Thank you for sharing this post! Being new to reviews, I really appreciate having all of this explained and laid out before me. The comments helped too. Thank you everyone.
@ Trisha-admin:
You’re right, I do stand behind everything I write. But I was looking at it from the point of view of things getting overly regulated. For example, the CPSIA’s blanket regulation on lead testing or the fact that a kid caught with a Tylenol at school can be expelled for drug possession. I certainly don’t want to see that happen.
@ Shan @Last Shreds Of Sanity:
Laws dont outdo the constitution, so it wont take away a freedom of speech. But its never been legal to like badmouth a company or person if you are lying….its not freedom of speech if its untrue…thats what slander and defamation laws are for.
I really dont believe this legislation will remove the right to talk about what you like or dont, but rather be held accountable for false, written words from it…just like running a false ad, now the bloggers are running them and are accountable.
It doesnt bother me because I dont say words that I dont truly believe and i dont believe you do either.
Good post, Trisha. I agree with almost everything you said, but I fear that the FTC regulations will take away our freedom of speech on our blogs, period. Not just when it comes to reviews.
What if, say for example, I want to warn my readers about Dish Network and their horrible customer service? Will the FTC be able to stop me from relating my personal experiences and opinions?
I am all about ethics and moral character, in personal life and on my blog. I would welcome some way to make Mom Bloggers more reputable to the rest of the world, but what is the cost? Are they going to regulate all my content and opinions? It’s my blog. I built it. The posts are my words. No one has the right to tell me what I can write on my blog, or not. I do believe there should be standards when it comes to reviews, etc. But that is where the regulating should stop.
It’s just my opinion, of course.
Great and timely post, Trisha. It gives all bloggers something to think about. When I first started writing reviews on Boutique Cafe, I was a new blogger and felt the pressure to stay positive, thinking maybe companies wouldn’t send product if they don’t like what I have to say. But I’ve grown up since then and don’t hesitate to point out things I don’t like or things that need improvement. I have found (and heard) companies actually rely on honest reviews to improve their product.
I have actually written a very negative review on Polliwogged before about a high chair that totally fell apart and was dangerous for children. I don’t think I said one good thing in that review and basically told readers NOT to buy it!
I agree with what everyone has said, especially Cat. I’m new to reviewing products on my blog but I’ve been with companies that I review products for and spread the word about for years. I think that the companies may see our posts as ads but to me when I review a product and post about it I’m doing the same thing that I would do when I tell my friends and family about a product I really like. I always give my honest opinions of the products and sometimes that means pointing out things that I didn’t like about them but if I were telling my sister who is a new mom about a product I’ve used I would tell her the good and the bad and I do no less than that when I post a product review on my blog.
Great article by the way!
Very well said! On my blog I tend to write about the company, how and when they got started, what products they have (not just the one(s) they sent me to review), how much I and/or my kids enjoyed it and what things I liked best. If there is something that I didn’t care for I’ll add it but so far I haven’t had to because the products I have received have been wonderful. If at some point I get a product that I would not recommend to family and/or friends then I will email the rep and tell them and give them the option to back out of the review. Because like you said, why would I or anyone else want to spend an hour or two writing a post, insert a bunch of links and pics when the product and inevitably the review is going to suck?!
Do I see reviews as ads? Yes and no. I know that reps see them that way but for another mom or blogger that comes to my blog I want and hope they see my reviews as reviews. Read what I think on it and what experience I had with it and then determine whether or not it would be good for them. So to reps, yes, it’s an ad. But to moms/dads/grandparents and so on it’s (to me anyway) a review.
@ Trisha-admin:
I get what you’re saying, completely.
What I’m trying to get across is that from MY side of writing about the product is that I’m not allowing them to buy my opinion. With the free product, they are buying space on my blog (essentially advertising space) but I’m going to test it and write about it for my readers from a “test group” perspective.
I think that’s where the problem lies with the new FTC stuff. Some bloggers are trying to pass a testimonial off as an actual review.
If a company just wants me to blow sunshine up their rear about the product, they’ll have to find a different blog. The readers I appeal to are hardworking, middle class often living paycheck to paycheck. I don’t want to give them a false impression of a product that they may end up going out and spending the money they worked hard for on.
@ Cat @ 3 Kids and Us:
I hear you cat. But to the company……its an ad. You are advertising their product, see what i mean? No matter what you say about it, good bad, whatever, your linking to a product, sharing a picture, and talking about it. To me, that is an advertisement, regardless of personal intentions. Companies are not passing out products for feel good reasons, they do it as a form of compensation so you talk about them.
That doesnt mean they don’t benefit from your opinion, but a blog post (atleast in my opinion) is drastically different from being on like a test group. That would be more in line with testing, reporting back to the company, and your relationship ends. But if someone sends you a product to post about, they are doing it so they get visitors, links, and pictures in the public eye.
Branding, Branding, Branding.
I agree for the most part, one small section I feel different about is Reviews being Ads. Maybe from the reps perspective what we’re doing is writing an ad for their client. But from my side of the review, which I shifted to early on in writing them is that I don’t want it to be an ad. I want someone to search for a product and be able to read my evaluation of the product as a true review from a mom’s perspective.
For example the Bumbleride series I’m doing. I’m breaking down this product in every aspect. Testing the functionality of it. Using it in every way another mom would. I know in all cases like this a representative of the company won’t actually read the review, but if they do, I also want them to know how they could better improve their product.
In the bumbleride example my husband and I found that having only one cup holder wasn’t sensible for couples that like to walk together. I suggested adding another one and found out Bumbleride agreed with me, and a second cup holder is being added to new production.
For me, reviews are about finding products for other moms and being able to share my opinion on how they can be improved in the future.
Good post… the way I handle it is my blog is not a blog that takes just any review. I named it Potamus Prefers for a reason… I tell my readers about products I have tried and prefer. Some of them I have bought myself but most of them have been samples. I do say that I received the item in that case. If I bought an item, I will say that. Anyway, since my blog is that type of blog I only do posts on items that I tried and liked and prefer therefore they are pretty positive in nature. If I try a product and don’t like it or don’t feel I can promote it, then you won’t see it on my blog. It’s only my opinion. I have bought many items online that I found out about because of blog reviews… I wouldn’t have known about them otherwise because many of the companies don’t have big enough budgets (as start ups) to advertise all over the television and internet etc.
I feel that the FTC is trying to protect consumers from things that say stuff like, “I ate this cookie and I lost 50 lbs. and you will too!” As long as we stay true to ousrselves and only put our opinions then I think that is ok. Right?
You hit the nail on the head.
The bottom line is transparency. Most review blogs are not “Consumer Reports” rating and ranking thousands of products. I think some have the potential for that but as a blog reader I have bought products based upon blog reviews and giveaways that were merely testimonials. I have discovered some wonderfully inventive products this way that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about.
I agree that regulation isn’t necessarily a bad thing so long as it outlines procedures for “standards of practice” regarding transparency rather than allows for the blogger to be held liable for their subjective opinion, regardless of their disclaimers.
Are we providing a better service doing a full review of a product? Probably. Is it our prerogative to provide only a testimonial. Absolutely.
Regulation, if done right, will provide accountability to protect against false advertising but also maintain our rights to Freedom of Speech on our blogs. I believe it is anyone’s right to accept money to talk about a product but I also believe, in order to maintain the sanctity of word-of-mouth, they need to be up-front about it.
That was a really great post thanks. One thing though, I have no ideas what the FTC is. You should have explained it in your post.
Thank you Trisha! This is great! I am just figuring things out right now. I have started out by putting under my signature if I received a product or not. I do like the idea of using testimonial vs review on certain things! I’m going to be writing up some policies now and get this in place. Thank you!!
Great post Trisha. I like how you speak from both sides and clarify things.
Trisha – this article is EXACTLY what I needed. I know what you mean when you say you feel pressured to give a good review. I originally started out with a Pro/Con template, and although I still use it, I find myself really trying to find the Pros in a product. Then it makes me wonder if my readers will still really trust my opinion in the end. Thanks for posting this, it’s really going to make me take a step back and evaluate.
Wow..Trisha, Great article..and well said! I loved this post!