Bloggers do have a right to make a living blogging and should be able to write about anything they so desire. I think our forefathers had something to do with that. A little birdie, not twitter, is whispering something about Freedom of the Press.

Anyway, in the blogging community, it’s not ethical to accept payment to write exactly what a company wants you to write. There’s a place and a time for everything, and anything. Blogging is about opinion, even if it’s opinion about facts. But it is in my opinion, it is reprehensible to defraud one’s loyal readers by posting a blog in someone else’s words and pass them off as yours.

If you can write something negative and be held accountable for your words, I believe the opposite can be fair to be true.

I realize the FTC is trying to take away the sunshine and roses aspect, but bloggers often only pick products that they are interested in, therefore they are on an upswing before it even arrives. Plus, one thing that people have to also realize is that bloggers build relationships with PR and businesses and part of a feel good about something can be attributed to that relationship. I know that if I work with the same person over and over again, I like them, and its natural to feel more lenient on a product. Its not a conscious decision in the slightest to do that, but I am no fool that relationships play a part in feelings.

Kinda like Fischer price ticked me off on a toy and now i scrutinize fisher price a lot more than I probably would Leap Frog..make sense?

I do believe though that bloggers, because its not a journalistic writing, write how they feel and very plainly. I am guilty of saying I LOVE THIS!!! Because that is how i feel. It may come off a bit cheesy though, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t sincere.

Regardless of positive or negative, or balanced, etc. I do believe every written word should hold some form of accountability and this whole FTC thing doesn’t bother me at all.

Ill stand in court and say that fortune cookie I ate yesterday was tasty…no problem here.

LOL

trisha

VERY fair! I absolutely believe bloggers should be paid. We all have to make a living and isn’t it something like 375,000 people are making a living by blogging?

What I don’t think should happen is that a company pays you to write what they want you to write. If you’re posting a blog about a product, provide disclosure that they sent you a sample. And then provide your real opinion on it. If you don’t like the product, but feel badly about saying something negative because they sent it to you, that’s doing your readers a disservice.

It sounds to me that you’re the type of blogger to accept product and provide your real and honest opinion on it. I think that’s absolutely fine! The ones that bother me are those that don’t disclose they’re being paid and don’t say what they really think.

Its still writing, its still time, it still takes webspace and knowledge, hosting, and advertising. My time isnt FREE.

That being said, I wouldn’t take a product I didnt believe in and write about it FOR a paycheck and I have nothing wrong with saying I received payment or a product. I actually believe its pretty common knowledge that most bloggers receive product in exchange.

But i do believe bloggers should be allowed to be paid.

Trisha
momdot.com