I know I know, another blogger moaning about how hard posting a few pretty pictures on the internet is? I must admit I'm nearly sick of seeing these types of posts too, but there's been a lots of thoughts regarding blogging floating around my mind over the past month and I feel like if I don't type them out, my head might just implode!
So what exactly is the problem with blogging and why would I (being a blogger myself) want to highlight any problems by writing a post about it? That's a totally valid question, and I guess the simple answer is, I can't stand bullshit, and I'm a very blunt and honest person so I wanted to use this post today to get all of my frustrations out onto the table.
So what exactly is the problem with blogging and why would I (being a blogger myself) want to highlight any problems by writing a post about it? That's a totally valid question, and I guess the simple answer is, I can't stand bullshit, and I'm a very blunt and honest person so I wanted to use this post today to get all of my frustrations out onto the table.
Recently I've seen some things online that just didn't sit right with me, and have really made me question why I blog, and how long I will continue to do so. There's been a huge shift in blogging over the past few months and even if you're not a blogger, or aren't particularly a fan of blogging/bloggers, it's been hard to miss all of the discussions surrounding blogging.
Fake Followers
One of the biggest things that has really left me unsettled is the discussion that started on Twitter about bloggers using Bots to grow their engagement and following. For anyone who doesn't spend every hour on social media and might have missed all of this 'drama', Bots are basically a service you can buy that will follow hundreds of accounts for you, so you don't have to lift a finger and the hope is that the majority of the accounts you have followed will follow you back, then a few days later, the Bot will then unfollow everyone you followed. Bots can also be used to like pictures from accounts similar to yours, or ones under a certain hashtag and can also post automated comments under posts.
Another practice bloggers will use on Instagram is to just buy followers and likes outright. It may sound crazy to some people, why on earth would you waste money buying followers? Social media isn't real life so why does it matter? The problem is that with blogging, in order for brands to notice you, most of the time you have to have a certain level of following and while I think the quality of a bloggers content and not their following is what is more important, I understand that brands want to reach large audiences. So obviously some bloggers wanted to take the easy way and just buy them, which really pisses me off because I know from personal experience how much time and effort goes into growing social media accounts.
No Bad Reviews
This is another hot topic in the blogging world at the moment. I'm not going to go into a huge amount of detail but basically the owner of a brand who owes the majority of the success and exposure the brand got when it first started out to bloggers came out and said that "Now, the value of a blogger endorsement is nothing – there are no bad reviews anymore." There was quite a bit more said about bloggers in that podcast but I personally think the owner and her company have had quite enough free publicity over the whole thing so I'll leave it there.
So are there really no bad reviews anymore? Have bloggers just lost the run of themselves and all they can do is rave about products until they're blue in the face? I think the answer here is no, whether you love or hate bloggers for whatever reason, I really don't think you can tar every single one with the exact same brush.
Just before sitting down to write this post, I listened to the It Galz podcast (which you all need to go and follow) 'Is Beauty Blogging Dead?' which goes into a lot more detail about the whole thing, and Jenny and Lindsay raised some very interesting and thought provoking points. They mentioned that a lot of bloggers wouldn't dare post a bad review of a product for fear that the brand would black list them and they'd never receive anything again.
Personally, I stopped doing single product reviews here on Penneys To Prada quiet a while ago because I just didn't enjoy doing them. Instead I will sometimes round up my favourite beauty bits from the past month or so and I find that it's a lot more informative and not as boring. I'll totally hold my hand up and say that I don't think I've ever given a 'bad review', but when talking about products, if there is something I didn't like about it, I'll mention it and even if I don't review a product on the blog, if I really didn't like it, I'll talk about it on Snapchat.
Bloggers owe it to their audience to be open and honest about products, because if someone sees you raving about the latest and greatest lipstick, and then goes out and buys it and it's horrible, you can bet that they're going to be pissed off and never trust a word you say again. The balance between being honest with your audience whilst still giving brands enough exposure for them to want to work with you is a very tricky one to achieve but I think if bloggers don't get it right, sooner or later blogging and it's popularity will suffer.
In their podcast, Jenny and Lindsay also touched on the fact that bloggers used to just be some girl in her bedroom with a poor quality camera sharing her favourite eyeliner, and now bloggers, especially the big ones, are almost seen as celebrities, which is something I find totally crazy. One of the most important bits of feedback I get from my followers (mainly on Snapchat) that means so much to me is that I come across as really normal and down to earth.
I never try to act like I'm something I'm not, or make my life look like a fairytale and I think it's important for everyone to remember that bloggers are just normal people who decided to put themselves out there on the internet. It's that simple. Sure, you might really admire your favourite blogger, and hell, you can even look up to them if they've made something of themselves, but I definitely don't think anyone should idolise bloggers, or put them on a pedestal because while growing a social media following takes a lot of hard work and effort, anyone can do it if they put in enough time.
Outfit Details
Dress, T-Shirt & Bag - Primark
I feel as though I've rambled a bit, so I do apologise, but like I said at the start of this post, it feels good to get all of my thoughts out. Over the past few months I've really battled with myself on whether I wanted to keep going with blogging, or whether it'd be so much easier to just give up and have about 5 hours of extra time a day that would have been spent blogging or on social media! Even after three and a half years of blogging, I still feel totally daft posing for these outfit posts, and I couldn't for the life of me tell you why so many people have chosen to follow me, but I love blogging and I love chatting to people I've never met before about their latest bargain find in Penneys, so I don't think I'll be giving up just yet.
I also definitely don't think blogging is going anywhere anytime soon either, if anything it's only just started to really take off, but I do think that some things need to change. Readers aren't stupid and are starting to become more and more wise to some bloggers shady ways and if we as bloggers don't make an effort to start valuing our audiences opinions, then we might as well just give up now.
I would love to hear any thoughts you have on blogging, so be sure to leave me a comment either on here or on Facebook or Instagram. I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you so much for reading (especially if you've gotten all the way to the end)!
