PHILIPPINES, JANUARY 27, 2011 – Inquirer’s Sunday Magazine must have been the spice of the weekend for readers, especially bloggers. The magazine featured blogging, including the best and most visited of local blogs. But what got everyone talking was the feature done by Margaux Salcedo in the first few pages: "Don’t give blogging a bad name," read the headline. The article talked about how a Big Bad Blogger and a PR firm bullied a restaurant into availing their services, or face a nasty online review.
With the popularity of blogger events, allegations of "envelopmental" writing are nothing new. The internet, let alone blogs thrive in the limitless possibilities of the information shared. While blogging is the best platform for no-holds-barred reviews, it’s hard to say how objective a blogger is when a PR vehicle and freebies involved. A longtime personal blogger, Elle says, "I’ve also seen so many great personal blogs grow so commercialized, you don’t see the blogger anymore, just the stuff they buy, the stuff they’re given to review, the events they go to. The last thing I want to be is that kind of blogger. I never started blogging with the hopes of becoming someone like that."
Chris, a culture blogger, admits, "A lot of people are into it. They love the freebies. Sa totoo lang yung freebies ang panalo minsan." (Truth be told, sometimes the freebies are the only things that make it worthwhile.)
Even bloggers who try to be objective lament the difficulty in dealing with them should the review be less than superlative, let alone bad. "Sometime’s its better not to write at all." Chris confides, "It’s hard to say the things the PR firms won’t say."
Big-name bloggers have weighed in on the issue.
"Did the blogger really know that the PR Agency is “representing” him?" asked Carlo Ople in New Media Philippines. "For all we know the PR is just using his name and he really just did write a glowing review for the first restaurant and a bad one for the next. I strongly recommend that the restaurant and the writer of the article give the name of the blog because that would only be the fair thing to do."
Cecile Zamora-van Straten of Chuvaness puts it bluntly, "I like to believe the stupid amount of money goes to The Firm and only trickles of money cascade down to the small-time bloggers."
One thing’s for sure, as tweeted by big time blogger, Noemi Dado, "Without names there is a shadow of doubt cast on everyone , bloggers , the "big bad blogger" and the PR firm."
Now that the whistle’s been blown on the dark side of blogging, and in mainstream print too, is this the start of the blog bubble burst?
Image some rights reserved by William Hoffman
