Suffering From a Bad Case of Mommyblogger Reflux
Yesterday, I had the extreme pleasure of attending PR University's audio conference "Pitching Mommy Bloggers" as a panelist, along with Liz, Christine and Renee (yeah, don't know how that happened either) and was pretty excited about it.
Until, I read Bad, Bad, Mommy Blogger Redux (written by fellow panelist Stephanie Azzarone) and, well, if you are a mom (like me) who happens to blog (no matter the reason) Stephanie is one of many public relations professionals, attempting to reach out to a community, filled with millions of diverse and colorful voices, along with about a billion misperceptions and contradictions enough to choke even the most experienced rocket scientist into smashing his slide rule against the wall, just to see if it would stick.
The only difference is, Stephanie is a mom and, well, she knows that, in my house, everything IS pretty much sticky, already and I'm okay with that.
Being called out as "review slinging money grubbers whose only concerns are freebies and paid for positive reviews of products," not so much!
I started blogging in 2003, when the mom blogging community was the social media and we were thrilled to have 1 person leave a comment.
Today, I still am, because feed readers and google analytics have pretty much taken over my once beloved community, but who am I kidding?
Mom bloggers have always been under scrutiny -- to cute, not enough rainbows or real hardcore and nauseating -- mom blogs...WHOWAH...what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, unless there's money involved and, well, NOW you're swimming in muddy waters, my friend.
Yes, there are mom bloggers who are making money and those of us who, you know, would like to, but have this little thing inside us call integrity, which, in my thinking, is not a characteristic exclusive to moms, only.
There are some folks (like me) who are trying their damnedest to do something good, or at least give back to their community, with their blogs.
As imperfect as it may be.
So, I am calling you out (yes, YOU!) and ask that, when you decide to target an entire community, or, perhaps, make reference to attendees on a certain audio conference, take the time to stop by and visit the neighborhood, or listen to said conference, first, before commencing with the mud-slinging.
With 2 kids home sick with strep throat and a husband who's laid up with bronchitis, all week, mine is messy enough, already, thanks!
[Disclosure: Yes, I was paid to attend the panel, but NOT for this blog post, nor was I asked to write about my experience. Just so you know]
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