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This post may possibly generate a plethora of hate emails and seething blog comments in my honor. So be it. I am not writing this to offend. Honestly, I am just curious if anyone else is feeling the same way...
First, why I love blogs... A few short years ago, I didn't even know what a blog was. I'm sure I was searching for information on this or that one day and a blog happened to have the information that I needed. I found myself immersed in the posts of a homesteader's blog. I was hooked. I followed that blog and then used her list of favorites to find more blogs that I enjoyed, and so on. The posts made me feel like I was sitting at the writer's kitchen table with him/her and learning about how their life was day to day. I could comment and add my two cents. Usually they would respond. It was all about the connection. I still have that with most of those same bloggers. Some of them have also created Facebook pages for their blogs and I "LIKED" those. While most have remained the same, down-to-earth folks that I adored to begin with, some have turned into something else.Something I don't like.Something I don't have a name for.
There is a pretty popular blogger that I stopped following, around a year ago. I really admired this person's values in the beginning. Slowly, the popularity began going to her head. She basically appointed herself as representative for all things blog. Eventually, anything news-worthy in the blogisphere, promised to have her discussing it on the next day's morning programs. Watching her take credit for another blogger's actions turned my stomach. But I told myself that maybe the other person had requested that she do this, as maybe they didn't want the national attention. I discovered later that this was not the case.
The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back came the day that this woman announced that she would be hosting a live chat with her readers ( she referred to them as her fans). Nothing wrong with the chat part. Maybe even nothing wrong with the "fans" part. It was how she promoted it that made my stomach curdle."Be here tonight and chat live with [insert blog persona]!" She could have simply said "me", but she headlined it like she was freaking Elvis or something. A few weeks before this, she had completely abandoned replying to reader comments at all. I understand that, when a person has as many comments as she did, it would have been too much to reply to them all, but she could have at least replied to some. No biggie. I unfollowed her and I'm willing to bet that I haven't missed one beneficial thing. I have no idea if she has a Facebook page.
There is a self-help blogger who does have a page on FB. Somewhere during his expansion to FB, he morphed from self-help into self-absorbed. I UNLIKED him with a quickness, the day he updated his status with, "All my fans, take a picture of yourselves holding up my book, then make that your profile pic. I want to see the love!" If he'd asked me to post what color my panties were, I don't think I would have felt much sicker. I shudder to think what he was doing, while perusing the new profile pics of the poor sheep that followed obliged his request.
My biggest heartbreak has been the money saving bloggers. The ones that share great deals and coupons. Most have remained true to themselves, but I can't help but feel that some have completely lost touch with what they started out to do and still claim to do, saving money and helping others save money.
First, I understand wanting to be liked. It's human nature. I don't really understand the push for LIKES on Facebook. Is there a prize being offered for the page with the most FB LIKES? How have I not heard about this? I have never understood this. It's akin to people being your friend because you have fame or money. Who wants that? Not me? I see it every day, "If my page hits 3,000 Likes by 5PM, I'll host a giveaway." Sure enough, the LIKES reach the 3,000 mark and a link for the giveaway is posted. I click the link and am led to a Rafflecopter form where, more often than not, there are already over 1,000 entries, in the minute it took me to get there. First, I complete the required entry, which is usually to LIKE the page of said blog on Facebook.Of course, I have already completed this step, which is how I was able to see the contest posted to my feed in the first place. But I have to click an Enter button to verify this.
Then I move on to the optional entries. This usually means following the blog on Twitter, subscribing to their newsletter, and maybe following on Google Friend Connect, along with Tweeting about the contest and sharing the contest with my friends on FB. But, wait, there's more! I've only competed a handful of entries out of a possible 30, 40, maybe even 50 more! There are more FB pages listed to LIKE, Tweet about. and share of FB. Most have started adding an encouraging note, stating that to enter, one need not follow all those pages and blogs, and just complete the required entries.Well, that might be a relief, if I didn't know that this gives me a snowball's chance in hell of winning against the other people who can actual spare the additional 20 minutes it takes to complete the other entries.
I will say that I was completely pissed off, a few weeks ago. One of these pages had posted a flash giveaway for a $5.00 Amazon gift code. I bit the bullet and jumped through the hoops of LIKING, Tweeting, Sharing, Following blah, blah, blah. A few hours later, when the winner should have been chosen, she posted an announcement to say that "sadly", she had decided to cancel the giveaway. She then proceeded into a rant about how she couldn't believe that more people had not entered.How it was crazy that someone would not want to win $5.00, especially in today's economy, so, so forth, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah.
I think this was so rude. First of all, this was a big, nose-thumbing, "eff you" to all the people that did take time to enter. Secondly, with all the steps one had to take to even have a decent chance at winning, she shouldn't be shocked that some folks didn't feel it was worth their time for $5.00. Third, and most important of all, even if only one person entered, she should have followed through with awarding the prize. As it stands now, the contest had a lot of entries, just not as many as she had hoped for, and each of those people gave their information and followed a load of other pages that they probably wouldn't have otherwise. She benefited and they got screwed. Plain and simple. I UNLIKED her.
Plus, if one presents themselves as a person who is there to help others save money, do it. Be honest while doing it. I cannot even count the Amazon affiliate links I see posted each hour with the message, "This is a great deal, HURRY! Stock Up NOW!!!!" Without ever letting these people know that you will get a percentage of everything they buy at Amazon, once they follow that link. I am not saying that most of these people are sincerely sharing a deal with the intention of helping someone save money. I am saying that anyone that is counting on the money saving advise that you have promised should know when you will be making money when they purchase the item(s). Knowing this, they may not be so quick to spend their hard earned money on a split second decision.
I do share links, deals, etc... but I post the link and let folks make up their own mind. If you do see me post a deal, screaming and shouting like my legs are on fire and my ass is catching, you should probably check it out, as I have surely found tuna for a dime a can, diapers for a nickel each, or some other once-in-a-lifetime deal.
I'll shut-up. For now anyway : P
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