I’m not sure if it’s a taboo for a blogger to be blogging about this topic.. But I guess if more people are aware and understand what’s the deal with bloggers getting free stuff, then less people would be pointing fingers that we are beggars. Bloggers are NOT beggars.

If you take a look at my blog, and many other famous bloggers that are more popular than myself, you will see that our blogs have many advertorials on products we are invited to write about.

Quid pro quo.

Unless we’re getting something out of blogging about products and events, we can’t really be bothered to. I would also sometimes blog about events and products that interests me, without being “invited” to do so. If you’re running a magazine or newspaper, and you don’t feel a particular content is really important to write about, you wouldn’t publish it unless it was paid advertorial as well. Don’t be silly to think that magazines and newspapers survive on just subscriptions and off-the-shelve sales. The people that are really paying the salaries of writers and editors are actually the advertisers! So what makes blogging any different?

Blogs are no longer just online diaries where people whine and bitch about their day. Many corporations and individuals blog to bring information to the mass that cannot be captivated as well by the traditional media. It is more personal, subjective reporting rather than unbiased, more objective reporting. Not true as well, if you pay more advertising you get a better rating for your products (3 out of 5 stars instead of 2 out of 5 stars?). This whole “blogging integrity” is a false image that self-righteous (low traffic blogs) people want to sell to you. We are not bounded by any contract to you or anyone else to tell the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There are, however, some guidelines that most bloggers self-impose due to either principals or just plain courtesy. And for the matter, how is blogging about scandals and things that you know nothing about.. integrity? This sentence is directed to the bloggers that have been flaming ladyironchef by speculating what happened without knowing the full picture.

If we are invited to a product launch, or to try a product or service… and we don’t like what we were offered.. we will simply not blog about it instead of slamming the company that invited us. That’s just basic “Asian courtesy”, or business ethics. Unless a company really offended the blogger in some ways, then be careful having your company name smeared all over the web. If we like the product, we will then blog about it. We are even allowed to blog about some negative points of the products and suggesting improvements. I’ve not had any complaints from any of my advertisers about that. If they are really unhappy, then they would not engage me to blog about their products anymore.

So is it safe to trust the opinions of bloggers? It’s up to YOU! You have a mind of your own to determine whether you want to try out a product or service! If you feel advertisements that says good things about a product is so sinful, then stop watching the TV or listening to the radio. These media are ALL running on advertisements. But because we are bloggers, we can chose what advertisements we want to accept and how to advise our readers.

Recently, there was a Singapore food blogger that got involved in a scandal – ladyironchef . I don’t know Brad, the author of the blog, personally. But I do not believe the one sided report of what Yahoo news claims.

http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/08/23/food-blogger-who-asks-for-free-meal-sparks-outrage-online

ladyironchef responded with this  post http://www.ladyironchef.com/2010/08/24/truth/

HELLO???

Beauty and fashion bloggers get invited to events all the time. They are given FREE make-up and beauty products, and they can blog about them at their own discretion. PR companies tries to make such events as enjoyable as possible so as to increase the chances of being blogged about.

Imagine if a beauty blogger gets invited to a nail salon to try their services… and after they are finished with your nails they ask you to pay! HAHA I’ve never heard of such a thing before

A few weeks back I was invited to the launch of Patite Patisserie cake decoration session and I’m sure many food bloggers were there too.

I’m not sure which of those were “Food Bloggers”, but I’m sure none of them offered to pay for their cakes!

If a tech blogger is invited to try a new gadget, after trying and reviewing the gadget, will they be asked to pay for it? O_O? If the equipment is for the purpose of reviewing only, the PR companies would state that they have 2 weeks to play around with the gadget, after which they would have to return it.

I have been to many events where food and drinks, including alcoholic ones, are served. Infact, many of the times, these events invites the traditional media (magazines, newspapers) and bloggers. We are usually treated with equal treatment, if not, better. Why?

If you pull a stunt like this on a magazine writer, his company has to decide whether they want to write poorly about a restaurant and lose potential advertisers. For a blogger, you want to pull a stunt? Simple, we’ll pull you down with us.

Some comments in the Yahoo article even tried to make fun of the saga without knowing any better… They said they want to start a blog and if they were a car blogger, would they receive free cars… hotel bloggers, get free hotel stays.. etc. I’m sorry to burst your joke (bubble), if you are a popular enough blogger with enough web traffic, yes you will get a free car and free hotel stays. Perhaps not a free car in Singapore, since it’s too expensive. If you think it’s easy to become a top blogger, then go start a blog and try it yourself. Take for example XiaXue, her entire wedding was sponsored. She even goes on vacations to Disneyland sponsored. You’re jealous?

I do take blogging as a side job, and I do it seriously. It takes ALOT more than just owning a blog to be considered a blogger. Not everyone can get free meals, free nail services, free clothes, free handphones – but we do. We don’t even have to ask for it.

We are not beggars, this is just business.

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1. [...] Lau – The search for a free lunch – deadpris: Truth About Bloggers & Freebies – ALVINOLOGY: Ladyironchef (Brad Lau) vs Private [...]

   Pingback by Daily SG: 25 Aug 2010 « The Singapore Daily — August 25, 2010 @ 11:01 am

    

2. That’s y we should not believe whatever we hear, see without knowing the truth

   Comment by LJ — August 26, 2010 @ 3:27 pm

    

3. [...] to understand as yet. I knew of this incident from a friend’s blog. She wrote about “Truth About Bloggers and Freebies“, a post which I feel does shed some light about blogging as a social media [...]

   Pingback by The Ignorantsoup - Struggling with the inner hollow — August 26, 2010 @ 8:58 pm

    

4. [...] A cardinal sin – Tristan Navera: Food blogger crossed the line in demanding free food – deadpris: Truth About Bloggers & Freebies – ALVINOLOGY: Ladyironchef (Brad Lau) vs Private Affairs – The Lycan Times: Bloggers, Blogging and [...]

   Pingback by Weekly Roundup: Week 35 « The Singapore Daily — August 28, 2010 @ 10:51 am

    

5. Hair extensions are made from a range of human and synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers include Kanekalon and Toyokalon.,;

   Comment by Caramoan Camarines Sur : — October 28, 2010 @ 5:10 pm

    

6. i frequent hair salons because i always want to keep my hair in top shape “:`

   Comment by Quiana Girardot — November 17, 2010 @ 4:03 pm

    

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