"If you are afraid of offending someone, don't blog, don't write!" - Freedom of speech - the true essence of blogging and journalism. The main reason, we blog. Self-expression! Backed by great contents. Yet look around you. Can you still see this distinct quality in all the blogs out there, moreso, in the world of momblogs?Hmmm...
I'm a momblogger. And if you think I find joy in self-inflicted pain or insulting someone, then you're totally sick! There's the door...
I want to speak from my heart and I believe that Momblogs {or mom bloggers} has definitely carved a whole different persona in this mom-dominated niche. It is intriguing to note that veterans and those from the Dooce Era {pardon me but I don't really know her, but I heard she's an icon } are but now a thing of the past and the new breed of mom bloggers have evolved into a whole new different unique species! Is it good? Is it bad? you be the judge.
My own realization has become more of a confirmation when I received the newsletter from MBC, where views of, who I can only assume are veteran mom bloggers, outlined their observations on how old-timers' blogging qualities are vastly different from the new breed of mom bloggers of these days. And yes, I agree, there is a definite hint of truth to their views and observations! But, was there ever a rule governing how one blogs? Or certain blog ethics one needs to practice? I dare say, none! It is the ironic truth. We all "play" by our own rules and create our rules as we go! Or that which is dictated by the current trend.
I'm almost at the earmark of a year of blogging. Not overly consistent but regular enough to reach a respectable status in the vast world of www. I started blogging to find an outlet. A "Me time", I called it. That's how I perceived blogging then and still is. A self-expression. Yet in a matter of months into it, I immediately saw a different culture unfamiliar to me. Bluntly speaking, It was like being shoved out from a chic boutique to a flea market!
It got real noisy! bloggers trying to outdo each other like each one is a competition. There are more paid posts, product reviews than my fingers and toes can count. More and more mombloggers are underselling themselves just to get into the product review bandwagon. Despicable? Who am I to judge? I learned to adapt.
I experienced cattiness from fellow mombloggers - who avoids you like a deadly plague! No matter how many times you visit and comment in their blogs, you're INVISIBLE! They return visits and comments on blogs you both visit but never on your blog! What's with that?! This, I really don't understand. Especially when you belong in the same network that is "suppose" to support each other. Useless...
I think momblogging has now become more of a "survival of the most famous!" or a business deal : You follow me, I follow you. Link with me, I link with you. You comment, I comment back. You visit, I visit you back. Everything comes with a price and I admit I'm guilty on these counts {so, sue me!}
Are these the definition of momblogging today? If it is, then again, sue me, when I say, it is a lost cause. A sad fate to those who still stick to the true and ancient nature of blogging. As for me, I'll just mind my own darn business {yeah I do have a business} and get on with my life. My life doesn't end on blogging.
I can always tweet! Tweeeeett!!!
I hear you. I started my blog to promotr my Etsy shop..... BUT I do try to blog about things that are interesting. Every day life, featuring OTHER artists etc. I really do try to go to other peoples' blogs that commet on mine and leave a comment. I do actually read those posts. I feel that everyone has something to say, be it about buisiness or not. I have found many of the blogs I follow to just be about 'moms' and the every day 'REAL' life that that entails. Come spring/summer time I hope to, myself, have other interesting things to blog about. I think that when it comes down to it, we want to relate to a 'real' person.
ReplyDeleteIf I follow your blog, it's not only because you follow me, it's because I feel you have interesting insight, and a hint of the 'real' world that alot of us have forgotten. I have met some of my greatest friends and aquaintences online.
And, now I'm rambling lol...... but you get the just of what I'm saying.
when i first started blogging, it was a way to express thoughts about things i normally dont bother to express. then i found sits and a few other blog sites and i saw the carnival atmosphere and sometimes i like it and sometimes i don't. it does hurt my feelings when im a faithful follower nd commenter and others dont comment or respond back. i do worry sometimes about hurting people's feelings - but on the other hand... its MY blog - i get to say what *I* think. if you don't like it, get your own!
ReplyDeleteOHHHH I just love you. Thank you for this. I get what you are saying...but it's life, and you find it everywhere. I recently made a comment on someone's blog who mentioned feeling left behind from another "spreading the comment love" site...and I agreed. I was emailed by that group leader about how disappointed they were to see my comment...but they never ever visited my blog...EVER...sooo....
ReplyDeleteI hope you keep blogging...I have found my voice, and I am enjoying it...even if I don't have a huge following or get tons of comments...I like knowing I"m spreading truth and heart...
this is interesting!on my 'about" page I mention that I a mom, therefore I guess that makes me a mom blogger. but my blog is about womanhood more than my kid...he is not the forefront of the blog although occasionnally he will get some "press", I also don't post a bunch of great crafty pcitures because I am not that good. i also know that because i am a pagan and that is obvious by looking at my blog that often people will stop by and then disregard me for that reason. anyway this is an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, Maricris and I just had that experience for the first time where I followed someone, commented extensively in response to a professional question of which I have alot of experience and Nada. Bupkiss, she never took the courtesy to comment back. Okaaay, I get it. These bloggers are just way more important and interesting than me. NOT!!!
ReplyDeleteFor some folks it's a business, for me, it's an opportunity to connect with folks and share. I enjoy your posts and hope you keep blogging. I am glad I found you and Annie and a few other bloggers through Sits, but I have to take a break from it all and just count on the handful of blogs and people like you I have come to care about. I am all about being supportive and think I would rather comment than blog most days!!
I think that you can find exactly what you want blogging. Whether that be marketing, self expression, friendships, etc. And there is a scale of magnitude that has to apply to blogging. If a blogger has double digit comments there is only so much time in the day to respond and track down other blogs. But as long as one has a group of blogs to consistently read and who consistently read your blog I think a balance is attained. For those who are out for world blogger domination, I just let them have way. Like you I am going to mind my own business!
ReplyDeleteThanks for a nice post today with great topic of discussion.
There's thousand of ideas in my head something to write about but blog hopping gets in the way. I tend to read posts that I like not because they are famous or influential but because of content but sometimes I noticed lately that I'm reading the same post or review in some blog I slightly losing my interest.
ReplyDeleteLike you I comment now and then but those considered influential blogger tends to snob mine for them I'm just an additional traffic but who am I to bother visiting or acknowledging my comments. I want to exchange opinion may be I'm right or wrong then maybe we can learn or be an inspiration. I also experienced that exchanging links thing.
I blog because I want to so I don't care if they link me back or not just as long they writing things I can relate to.
But keep on writing you fascinates me and thank you keeping zen circle even if I haven't commented for a long time but I you know I read your post in my mail so I wouldn't miss anything.
Btw tomorrow is International Women's Day so keep on writing woman.
I also believe in being supportive of other blogs, especially those who comment on mine and whose blogs I enjoy reading. I have only a handful of people who follow my blog but I don't mind. I write because I enjoy it. I also enjoy your blog and this article...insightful! How are your crafts going? Have you seen the show Stylelicious? I love it! I am getting back into art now, that is what my degree is, and finding new things I want to do everyday!
ReplyDeleteErin
ncgirl (thirtysomethingreality)
Maricris, I love your writing and your thjoughts. I appreciate it maybe more so, despite the fact OI am not a warring mom blogger
ReplyDeleteShould I be grateful that I am not a momblogger? Maybe not, after all, I'm also a blogger in my own way. At times, I get annoyed when some bloggers writing about "blogs having poor content". How do we really know what a good content is? This is baffling me. As a blogger, I have the freedom to write what I want to. And do writing reviews and paid posts could turn contents into good? I'm out of blogging if this is the case. :-)
ReplyDeleteBtw, nagkasalisi yata tayo, hehee! You were in my thoughts when I was done with my post. :-)
Enjoyed your post. I think you have a valid point. Hey this is my first time her 1 visit = 1 comment. :) Thanks for visiting me, I enjoy commenting and visiting I just don't always have the time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observations, I enjoyed this post. And may link it to a future post as it's given me food for thought. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHey Maricris that was a good post. I have been lacking in commenting and I have felt bad about it. Here lately I have barely had time to post. But I have been a faithful reader and commenter to some blogs (not as much lately) and have never received a visit back. I actually started my blog as both an outlet and for my family that I have all over the United States. However I too have found some great people and friends. I am glad that I have because I found out I really needed some of them. I try to make my blog interesting but you know I just live a normal life and sometimes nothing interesting happens. lol I hope you continue blogging I love your blog!!
ReplyDeleteI hope that you know from how I blog that I'm right there with you. I completely feel like you do.
ReplyDeleteI'm still a newbie, but there are days when it feels like high school, others days I just blog for myself.
Really great post.
Good post c: I blog to write what happens to me and my family like a journal to me. Also to help inform others. I also want to express my ideas plus to meet friends like the way we had started c:
ReplyDeleteI have an inspirational tag to share with you c: If you have time, read it c: you don't have to do it if you are busy c:
Your very right. Mom bloggers are branching into popularity clubs. It's about who u know not what your sharing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you wrote about this. I've been thinking the exact same things...and a few other things I better not say here. LOL. I'm so emailing you about this!
You said it well, girlfriend!! Sometimes it does feel like a competition but I blog because I love it and I'm hoping sometime in the distant future my children will read it and get a really good sense of who I am and enjoy the funny stories I've told about them.
ReplyDeleteI also don't understand the bloggers who never comment back. It's plain wierd. And it's funny you mention seeing other bloggers on the same blog because anytime I notice a blogger commenting on a lot of the same blogs I read and comment on, I always visit their blog b/c I figure we must have the same taste in reading. I've actually found a few wonderful blogs this way that I wouldn't have found otherwise!
I love it! Great observations. I too have had moments where I feel like I'm just not as cool as the other mom bloggers. :) I just don't have the time to devote to being so witty and charming. I merely give my time when I have it and know that of all the people out there, at least my mom and my grandma are reading. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by my blog! my chore chart has been in the works for about 2 weeks.... so far so good!
At times, we do get lost on the quagmire of things, especially in the blogging world where keeping your existence depends on how many people read you. But who am I kidding? Frankly, I don't care less. I blog to have an outlet. I blog because it feels good; and I'll continue visiting and reading those blogs I like no matter what.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!I feel sad while reading this post.As a new momblogger there are times I have been lacking in commenting,reading and I have felt badly about it but this is what I love Writing is my passion. Thank you Maricris .
ReplyDeleteMaricris you said it! Especially about the commenting part! When I first got going on my family's blog, the trend was "attack the sweet blogs because they must be fake bloggers." It used to irritate me but when I started my own tablescaping blogs, I learned to ignore those "critical or should I say unbelievably insecure yet vain" bloggers that judge from the perspective of how many comments they receive a day. It makes you wonder if their comments are genuine! It doesn't matter to me, I love blogging and I found an outlet for my own "Me time" and I am having the time of my life!
ReplyDeleteHave a great Tuesday...
Oh my goodness!! Did you read my mind on some of these things? I started blogging to keep my family up to date on our little guy, and then added a second blog as an outlet for me to say what was on my mind. I often feel like the blogging world is like high school with its cliques and popular crowds. That said there is a part of me that wants to be a part of that crowd, but I will not lose myself in doing so.
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed that there are some bloggers that I follow and comment on, that, though they are leaving comments on other blogs we both follow, don't leave any back on mine. I don't know, to me it's just a little rude not to acknowledge that someone has taken the time to go to their blog and comment on their post. I personally have all comments put on my blog emailed to me, so that I can go to each and every blog and check them out and comment back (in between taking care of the baby and household chores).
Anyway... Great post!
Over from SITS. I thought this was a great post!
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteI'm just passing by from SITS!
I enjoyed reading your post.
Hi.
ReplyDeleteI'm just passing by from SITS!
I enjoyed reading your post.
Hey Maricris I know I have already left a comment for this post but I wanted to tell you about my giveaway. Hop over and enter it!! It'll be up until 2:00 p.m.(CST) tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHi, I read your post, but it is fairly late at night now, so I opted not to read all the comments, because I really wanted to respond before it's time for bed...
ReplyDeleteI am not a mom, but I do have a personal blog. I also have a "craft" blog. I definitely get more visitors and more comments on the craft blog, and I understand why. It's easier to read and comment on less personal posts...
It's kind of disappointing though. I write my blog for myself, but I wouldn't bother putting it online if I wasn't hoping to connect with others.
I find that I frequently feel reluctant to post about what is really on my mind. I worry that readers may be offended by what I have to say. The fact is, I'd rather blog honestly and risk losing readers than edit myself in the hopes of appealing to a greater audience. Isn't the point of having a blog to communicate with like-minded people, and potentially foster friendships with them? If being myself in my blog means only attracting readers who "get" me, then I guess that's exactly what I was hoping for when I created my blog.
And all of this posting for advertising dollars. Who has time for that? Did you use to wax poetic about the wonderful features of your walkman in your diary as a young girl? I'll be honest, if you post a comment on my blog, I'm likely to add yours to my reader... but if I notice that your posts are not so much about you as they are about you plugging products, you can be sure that I'll unsubscribe just as quickly as I subscribed in the first place.
I followed you back here after you entered my giveaway. And, I am so happy that I did. What a wonderful post. I hope you don't mind if you get another follower tonight:)
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