(This post was in response to the bloggers running around flipping out and was not the original blog post)
Who knew something that started on our FNL about blogger burnout would take the little old blogosphere by viral posting storm today. And I didn’t even try. How disappointing.
Listen up whiny babies of the blogosphere: If your afraid to take a WEEK, a WEEK off of PR blogging, then you have a PROBLEM. Call it an addiction if you will, but you should stop sniffing the free snack cake train ASAP.
The best part, other than being taken completely out of context (hi, jessica knows!), is that I think everyone has proven that it needs to be done. If it didn’t, then no one would get their CNET panties in a bunch.
To prove my point, today a very sad thing happened in my online life. A good friend, Cat from 3kidsandus, quit blogging. She quit blogging because it was too much. Her site now says:
After a lengthy discussion with my husband we’ve (or I should say I) realized that I’m not super-mom. I can’t do it all. I can’t raise our children properly, keep a nice house, have food on the table and the laundry done, I can’t be his companion, I can’t entertain or write daily, I can’t keep up with writing reviews to my standards (which are impossibly high) or keep up with the emails…I just can’t. It’s all become this heavy burden that makes me stare with disgust at the computer each morning when I wake up, pass it by each minute seeing that little “new email” icon beckoning me…it’s become a negative aspect of my life that is draining me physically and emotionally.”
This is someone I have known for a year, that has helped countless women online, and is truly an unselfish and wonderful mother. As much as it pains me, I applaud her for taking back her life.
I only wish she had tried taking her blog back first.
Truthfully, I am waiting for the storm of social media suicide to hit. Meaning that women are so incredibly stressed with caring for their families, their friendships, and now their online reputations, blogs, companies and obligations, that they are at the edge, the brink, of a real disaster.
How many times have you turned away from your husband or your child because you had “one more thing to do” online?
A break, a PR Blackout if you will, may show some mom, even just one, that she can live without the false sense of fake visitors entering her contests. That her turning down a PR release or a product wont in fact put her at the bottom of a bloggy blackball list for the future and her online life wont suffer if she doesn’t fall to her knees every time she receives a request.
By taking out the tirade of hundreds of products from our daily blog lives, we will be actually raising the bar for our content, introducing our blogs to the real us, and ultimately providing a more organic, true platform for all media. We become more real, our audience becomes more trusting, and the the advertising of these products for those that accept them produce more results for the companies overall.
One of the largest complaints media has about mom bloggers is its sugar coating, candy sweet positive reviews with sketchy ethics. This has zero to do with ethics, but more so to do with getting back to the basics. Do you care how I feel about this sling if you don’t know my child? The chances are no. Maybe the ethics are in not accepting all products that cross your path.
No matter, its a positive thing for PR to see less and less products on mom blogs. That way when they are accepted, they are true, they are relevant, and they are just the right balance of advertising and reality. Mom Blogs were so valuable to PR based on the content, based on the closeness a writer has with its visitors. Now I can barely blog hop without every other post being related to a product. Heck, I can barely blog hop because of my obligations to these product reps! Its disheartening to see all the obligation across the net amongst everyone. We are losing A-List talent and good people like Cat every day to this.
It needs to stop.
My point is to take blogs to the NEXT level. To provide what we as blog writers and what we as blog visitors really crave: each other.
Now go dry your eyes with your boogie wipes and jump on the bandwagon. The IRS and FTC will be coming soon to a mom blog near you, so there is never a better time to be part of the challenge.
The real question is, are you strong enough to take the step?
~Trisha
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@ Christy:
Until you are as heavily inundated as our community is with pitches and bloggers that are burned out, its very hard to understand the point from which the challenge began.
The fact is that MomDot has always been and remains a steadfast supporter of all bloggers and PR alike. We actually run an ethical blogger program and a VIP program that connects bloggers TO PR, from newbies to experienced.
But its with over 100K posts on our forum where we noticed a trend in deadlines and stresses and through a recent radio show we did where callers and chat room talkers talked about that stress they are under…very much like work stress.
We created a vacation program for a week for OUR community, which was taken out of context. This post is not a ‘lash out’ but a response to the article that was written and completely misconstrued whereby the author brought in the FTC, etc which had nothing to do with our challenge.
The goal remains the same….providing bloggers that do not want to post or feel obligated to post about PR a week off. Its not a blackball, we are not asking bloggers to quit products, we are not asking bloggers to never talk again about their favorite things or run giveaways, but its rather to support those that want to get back to something more personal and grow on that for a WEEK.
If you read the original post, you will see our intent was to have fun, but unfortunately in dealing with the internet gossip and paparazzi for a day completely pissed us off and now we are ready to defend our community, the very one that supports and needs the break.
BUt we are SO glad it has gotten the internet talking if its a conversation that needed to be had.
~Trisha
Wow, what a conversation. Mummy blogging is just taking of in the UK and thank god we have you to learn from. You can read about the UK verison here: http://tinyurl.com/kobe6u
I’ve been blogging for years and I’ve found that blogging means something a little different to everyone, depending on their lifestyle and what they are into. For me, as a parent, it’s about my family… I blog because I want to retain memories (and let’s face it, with five kids… I can barely remember my NAME most days, so I NEED a record of these things – in writing LOL) … I blog because I enjoy it. I think when the fun starts to go missing, something is wrong. When blogging becomes a stressful chore and starts feeling more like work than play, then it’s gotten out of hand.
I don’t mind accepting a product here and there (don’t mind, shoot… I love free crap!) but I wouldn’t accept anything that I wouldn’t have bought in the first place, and I can’t see letting ad/promo posts overtake my purpose in blogging. I have my menu plans, recipes, reviews, etc on a completely separate blog on my site. I think it’s all in efficient and effective balance. As mothers, we are obviously going to have some power of persuasive influence over the product purchasing decisions of our friends – if we’ve tried something and they trust our opinion, they are not going to spend money on something we’ve told them sucks. SO, yeah… reviews can be hot for companies while affording us the opportunity to try something without buying (sweeeeet) but when our whole world begins to revolve around that, well … then we’re not just blogging moms anymore. We’re product whores and review bunnies.
I guess all of that is to say this: I call myself a mommy blogger because I blog with the purpose of sharing things about my kids… my family… my life – and all the ups and downs – of parenthood. If ever I get to a point where I am so focused on a product review or scoring a company sponsorship that I am missing out on experiencing what’s going on in my own house, something is WRONG. It is then that I would have to agree that it is definitely time to step back and recognize the signs of addiction. I mean seriously, we’re all at least semi-intelligent and … wouldn’t you call a crackhead a crackhead? I hate that Cat is calling her blog quits (although I honestly don’t know her) but at the same time, I applaud her and give her MADD kudos for taking control of her life and not only knowing what’s best for her family but DOING what she feels is best, even though I’m sure it’s not the most pleasant thing…
Oh, and just for the record, before anyone goes super-sensitive on me… NO, I wasn’t calling anyone a freakin crackhead.
Kat @ For the Love of Chaos
I said this elsewhere, but I’ll say it again here. Not all bloggers who do reviews have let their content slide or gotten caught up in a PR storm. I support you in unplugging for a week, but don’t appreciate the suggestion that those who don’t are scared or weak. Perhaps some of us have been able to find a balance in our lives. Many newer bloggers get little to no attention from PR anyway. How does it help them to avoid product reviews and giveaways? I get the idea. But I think that the blame and focus is falling in the wrong spot. It doesn’t matter whether you blog about politics, food, products or family. If you can’t maintain a reasonable balance in your life and you can’t walk away at the end of the day, you’re going to get burned out. Rather than an anti-PR/product week, why not a back-to-basics day where we all just post about something that inspires and refreshes us? Anyway, I’m sorry you are feeling personally attacked and have decided to lash back out at the blogosphere in general, but sometimes people don’t agree just because they don’t agree. This isn’t a sorority or a club. We’re individuals with a helluva a lot of different opinions and ways of getting things done. Enjoy your blackout week! I hope it rejuvenates you. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, which may… or may not… involve PR and/or products.
I applaud the big time Mom blogs! You are the type of blogs that I found first once I got on Twitter. I thought that my little blog of putting out a recipe that no one read was the real deal. Then I met up with some of you big blogs and I realized there was more that I could do and more fun to be had and moms like me to meet and and and!
I have a 2 baby blogs and they will always be that way. If I get products I will review them. If I don’t then I won’t. I’m not into popularity contest on who has more followers or who can get more things to review and giveaway.
I’m also not into bullying…. being that online or in real life. If someone wants a week off then do it! If someone doesn’t want one off well then don’t take it. We don’t want companies running our lives nor do we want other mom bloggers to run our lives!
I’m very grateful for all the things I have learned in the blog world. If the Gov takes over then it will be because we let it happen.
Good luck to all who blog. If you are overwhelmed step back! If you aren’t create a balance so you don’t get that way! If you need a vacation don’t assume everyone should take one at the same time you do.
Susan
Well I’m still fairly new to blogging & have not entered the product reviews yet. I’ve had a few come my way, but I turned them down, because I don’t want my blog to be filled with reviews. I want it to be more personal. Over the past couple of months, I have focused on dangerous teen trends (some of which my daughter experienced)& I have gotten good response. And I might make some bloggers mad, but personally I hate visiting a blog just to find reviews, give-aways & not much else. I’m more interested in blogs where the blogger shares their experiences, life, etc. But that’s just me.
Wow, great post. My blog is my online coffee klatch, not a business. I have a job and it’s a challenge to balance it all.
@ Jenn:
For us “newbies” compared to you, its going forward from where we started, for you experienced, its going back. Either way, its a great thing.
Actually, after reading your thoughts and feelings about this, I have to say it sounds more like you are trying to take blogs back to “old school” blogging rather than “taking it to the next level” in many ways.
Those of us who have been around a while (since ’03 and before) have been watching this with interest and wondering when a cry would go out to get back to authentic voices and reality in our blogging.
PR or no PR, I read blogs to hear authentic voices. I miss that. It’s all about balance. Plain and simple. Find the balance and you will find your authentic voice.
@ A Cowboy’s Wife:
You are right. And that is what we originally said…till we got bombarded, tweeted, unsupported, gossiped, and written about in about 101 ways that were not part of our original “challenge”. Then i got mad.
But one thing I can say is that mom bloggers HAVE power or this never would have been talked about…PR is skerred, bloggers are skeered.
Who cares…i could talk about life all day long. I dont need a giveaway.
I think that if people need to take a timeout from PR stuff then they’ve forgotten what the heart of their blog is and need to focus on that more (unless it is a review blog only).
Quality will always matter more, not quantity. .
If you’re getting overwhelmed with pitches, etc….there’s a simple fix.
Just.Say.No.
I am ready to take it to the next, and the next level. I. Am. Ready. Now!
MMM I think some of your points are a bit harsh. But whatev. It’s funny to me that bloggers even ACCEPT pr crap that they don’t even like! How funny. I seek out companies that I love products from! I would hate to review something I didn’t like, and even blog about liking it only to lie! Helllllls NO!
Until one experiences blog burnout by trying to keep up with the blogging whims of the time, they will never get it and never be shaken back to the core of that place of where and why their blog first started. I think it’s all a part of the evolution of blogging and if one has never been there, one is not growing their blog (and I don’t mean traffic). Those of us who have been taken through these different stages of blogging truly understand the point you tried to make AND can understand without taking everything you said out of context. Some might argue that if we knew what we were doing when we started that this would never have to happen. I prefer a been there, done that kind of blogger myself. That’s REAL.
Well put! I started blogging to fill my time; NOT for it to become a real source of income; and I intend to keep it that way. My blog is just that – a blog – not my job, not my income, nothing. I turn my computer off when the Husband gets home and it doesn’t turn back on until the next morning. I pray that all mommy bloggers out there can take back their blogs, and not have to feel so dependent on it! Control your blogging before it controls you.
yeah, I guess I compare myself to a lot of blogs but forget that I don’t post reviews unless they are products that I truly can not live without…my readers come to read my life stories and my drama…and it’s fine that way…hey, I can only make ME happy and if I come across something that I love and I can share that then I will but for the most part, I am not in the “mom blogger” category to begin with.
I will miss Cat sooo much…she was such a sweetie
Wow,get out of my head. I wrote something similar a week ago!! I’ll miss Cats blog.
that is sad that she has left- I don’t know of her
I think for me personally I have stopped blogging as often as I use to. I was doing it for myself and I loved that I was meeting new people who cared about reading my blog and about my family, I cared about theirs and read their blogs. Then it seemed like the PR rave hit and I stopped reading a few blogs because all the posts seemed to be a review of some sort. Then came all the giveaways- bloggers bouncing from one blog to another trying to win something new- the community was lost. I am guilty of leaving a comment just to win and knowing nothing of the blogger- the family-etc. Who doesn’t want something free? I don’t think there are as many people out there just reading blogs about families anymore. 
I know I don’t have as much time to do it all. I have lost several readers- whether I even had any or not. haha Comments are gone. Maybe my blog is boring. But maybe its because I don’t do giveaways and that’s the sign of the times? I spend way too much time online as it is- I couldn’t imagine if I were doing reviews too. But then I see these moms making $1000′s a month in just ads, reviews, etc..and I want in on the action….but then really at what cost?
I just think back just even 5 years ago when I started blogging- the internet was such a different place!
Good post!
Well said! I have a few things to get done but I will be joining the blackout. I will so miss Cat!
Matt Churchill wrote:
Matt, could you please immediately move to the US and start spreading your company’s philosophy throughout the PR world here?
But, honestly, what you said about PR companies needing some time to transition into more relevant social media practices makes sense. We moms are just used to moving at breakneck speed and need them to catch up a little quicker, you know what I mean?