You know what I hated most about working for a big corporate? The politics! I HATED it. The back biting, the gossip, the manipulation, the lack of integrity to get ahead. It was a dark, horrible place.
When I left I thought that was the last I would see of that rubbish but then I started blogging and then I started getting a following. Then I joined twitter and then I started getting more people following me. It was all very great and I was having fun. But then it started, the gossiping, the back biting – the ugliness. Fortunately, in the nearly 7 years I have been blogging I have never been the direct target but I have thrown a bit of bitchiness here and there but for the most part I do try and stay out of it. The reality is, it does exist. It will always exist where two or more people come together. It is human nature unfortunately.
What has struck me as sad lately though is how many bloggers feel isolated, left out or ignored but their fellow bloggers. I have always felt the total opposite. I have always had such great support from my fellow bloggers.
This was probably the biggest motivator for me to organise the #jozimeetup. It is so easy to hide behind our screens and make comments (or not) and feel like we aren’t a part of something we want to be. By removing the computer screens and meeting people face to face the whole dynamic changes, you get to see who people really are, you get to connect with them on a whole different level. Most importantly you realise that when all is said and done, we really are all the same!
It is also why I have set up Blog Share Connect. My aim is to connect bloggers. To organise events, not only like the #jozimeetup, but smaller less formal ones where bloggers can connect with one another, in person, regularly. I want to be able to share our stories and experiences. It is, and has been for a while, important to me.
Yesterday there were a few posts doing the rounds – Sharon made one and has all the other links up on her blog if you want to read them.
Obviously I had to share my views on a few of the issues raised because it seems they are on a lot of people’s minds.
I don’t blog for me! Yes you read that right! I blog the content I want but I no longer blog solely for me! I blog for the single parents who still mail me regularly asking for advise. I blog for the new moms who can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I blog for every single reader who clicks through to see if there is a new post up. Of course I love blogging, it is my release, my therapy BUT I don’t just blog for me.
I don’t blog for free stuff! I was one of the moms moaning a few years ago that brands don’t take us seriously and we don’t get included in product launches etc etc. Then we started being included. We started getting funky invites and “free” stuff to review (or not). Brands were taking us seriously BUT and there is a huge BUT here – it is NOT FOR FREE! Brands send me products because they want me to raise awareness – often it is not said in so many words – but that is what they want – a post, a tweet, an instagram and rightly so! If I never mentioned any of the products I got sent I can promise you they would not send them any more and I would have no right to complain. Sharon mentioned it in her blog post – when we were looking for sponsors we had to send them attendee lists, we had to tell them how we were planning on getting exposure, they wanted the FB page invite, blog posts etc. Starting a blog with the sole aim of getting free stuff is naive. No brand is going to support you if you don’t have a following or a presence they can take seriously!
Blogging is hard work. Really it is. Anyone who has ever tried to set up a self-hosted blog will tell you just how hard it is. Thinking of new content daily, or even weekly is hard. Making sure your grammar and spelling are all correct for fear of the grammar nazi’s coming down on you is hard. Being honest while respecting your families privacy is hard. Blogging is hard!
I have now gone too far away from the place I wanted to be where I mention mommy bloggers and why I feel they do deserve more credit but I shall save that for another time because Suzanne has just arrived with cake!
Share your thoughts with me please!
12 Responses
Great to be (a tiny) part of this all
Thank you for forming the page on Facebook. I am honest if I say that I have met some of my best friends through blogging. I haven’t got such a huge following and different people follow me for different reasons…some only to see my creative side…and I guess that is okay too. To a large extent I believe we all have so much in common and many times I read blogs and bob my head as I read because I relate. Blogging tells me we aren’t alone and that it is possible to use the cyberspace to connect and make great friends.
I agree nothing is for free and when you try and make money off of it then it sucks the fun out of it. Then it becomes a job and not something you enjoy.
I have been on the receiving end of some negativity. It sucks and it’s petty. I hate that it bothers me so much but I can’t shake it.
Now and again I’m reminded why I don’t like to be sucked into the twitter/ social media bandwagon… right here is it.
I have always blogged for myself. And I have built AMAZING relationships with fellow bloggers (I saw 5 really good friends in the US two years ago, and a lot that I didn’t get to see too). These are people I would have in my house (that’s how I define good relationships).
I do feel itty bitty in the grand scheme of “South African blogging greats” even though I think both my blogs are really good… but the cost to me personally (time, negativity, etc) is worth too much sacrifice to change that.
That said, I’m glad you have the energy for it all.
xxx
oh, I didn’t phrase that properly. Friends both overseas and here.
Oooh I feel like I sort of got reviewed there then, bring cake and get a mention on your blog….see it really is rather easy…..lol
I think Blog Share Connect is a great initiative & want to be apart of it. Yes, there is a down side to blogging but I would still not change my blogging experience.
I love my blog, I love reading blogs, heck, I’m not gonna lie, I love the free stuff too. I love all of it & the parts I don’t like, I just don’t participate in.
End of story.
xxx
Loving all the efforts to unite bloggers. Have liked on FB.
Blogging is hard work. Especially when you are going through a rough time. The Jozi Meetup was great and it really inspired me to blog more. I have made some really good friends from blogging and those connections are priceless to me.
I will definitely be participating in Blog Share Connect.
It took me 17 years to receive any ‘free stuff’ but as you say, nothing is for free.
Like in any society you get the cliques. High school on your screen.
I have been blessed with readers who have stuck with me for over a decade. They don’t want to read reviews etc. They want to read about me.
I blog because I cannot imagine not writing. So sanity?
Love the idea of the new forum.
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to reach out and start this for us. I have always loved blogging but I love meeting people and chatting in REAL life more 🙂 What you have started helps me in both ways.
Here’s to us all growing in some way thru this initiative.
xxx
Will check out blog/share/connect.
I blog purely for me. Am vain like that. Don’t care for the freebies but I wouldn’t exactly refuse them if they came my way. I DO enjoy meeting up with bloggers though not in a big group. Wenchy is right. You’re always going to get the cliques.