Blue Notes

Blue Notes

11 December 2015

Considerations on being a blogger today

blogging

Yesterday I read an interview where someone appreciated and mentioned as a good example (and as the only example) of an Italian fashion blogger someone that (I quote) “has now a professional team working for her”. I rubbed my eyes. To me, this means quite the opposite, like loosing the original meaning of “blogger”. Who already was, from a different point of view than the print media or traditional media, he (or she) himself “an expert”. Or at least someone who had something interesting to tell. So today to be considered “a good blogger” you have to rely on a professional team? So someone else writes for you (your) blog texts, someone else takes all your pictures (even the ones where you don’t appear yourself) and finally someone else prepares the graphics of your posts? So what do you do as a blogger?

I posted a similar status on Facebook yesterday and this started a discussion on “definitions”. Blogger versus influencer? Web star or just web model? Are you showing your face on the web or are you only showing your face?

My definition of blogger refers to at least three musts: 1. You must have a blog (sounds obvious, but it seems that there are some strange beings out there that are called bloggers without having a blog). 2. You must still want to write something on your blog. If it looks like your Instagram feed this is not the case. 3. You must be able to use a camera. Or at least your iPhone. It’s obvious that it is better to have a photographer (in this case a professional one) for a shooting but I often see bloggers going to presentations with someone else taking all the photos. While she, “the blogger”, happily enjoys her cocktail. I’m sure someone like Susie Lau never does this.

And speaking of her, why does she always have such fantastic material to write about? I’m dreaming to be able to write a post about a designer, having to document, to study, to research and to assemble material to write it down for you; I’m longing for an invitation to a fashion show that includes a post describing all style changes in the last 10 years of the fashion house; I’m longing for an invite to visit a company with a production perhaps entirely handmade in Italy. While one the best things that happened to me was receiving an email from an Italian designer (from his personal email address) saying thank you for the comment I wrote on his fashion show (for two seasons I wrote some of the Fashion Week comments for Grazia.it).

I still want to be a blogger today. Not an influencer. Because do I want, do I have to influence people who follow me and read me? I rather wish to communicate. Communicate a product, a choice, a preference. That I find interesting. First of all for me.

 

[cover photo via Freitag]

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20 comments

  1. putroppo le “false blogger” non hanno niente da dire, hanno solo una bella faccia ( e corpo) che le aiuta.. la gente le segue e i brands le considerano. meccanismo malato

    per questo gli unici blog che seguo siete tu e rockandfiocc, persone che hanno interessi e argomenti. grazie alle quali si conoscono tantissime cose!

    keep it up

    xxx

    chiara
    • Chiara, grazie di cuore per il supporto!
      E vero, Giulia sa proprio un SACCO di cose :)

      Erica Blue
  2. I totally agree with you… But you know it’s because you’re a smart cookie and you don’t seek fame but rather the satisfaction of work well done! And that in the end will pay off too. Have a great day! Xx, Alma

    Soulofashopper
    • Thank you Alma!

      Erica Blue
  3. hehe grazie a Chiara e concordo al 100% con te (e Susie è la migliore, davvero)!
    Parliamo poi di quelle “blogger” che invece di scrivere articoli mettono insieme qualche frase “poetica” a caso… per me le peggiori

    giulia
    • sì beh quello viene addirittura considerato oggi indice di “buona scrittura”…

      Erica Blue
  4. waw this is sth so fresh but yet so honest. I utterly agree with you. Sadly even a word blogger has become sth “bad” and everyone lust for sth more than just being a blogger. I for instance found that being a fashion editor for Grazia wasnt as satisfying as being a fashion blogger. My blog. My place where I, myself can be completely honest, creative and share my passion with my readers. And thats it. Just me and my view on life.

    Kisses

    http://mancinasspot.blogspot.si/

    Mancina
    • Exactly! Your blog is yours. If someone else writes everything than it’s a magazine. But you shouldn’t be called a “blogger” anymore.

      Erica Blue
      • exactly. but despite creating a magazin was a bless I realised being free in order to express yourself is much more important. So in my case I left the magazine and came back to my roots. Being a blogger and a freelance stylist sounds great now to me =)

        Thanky so much for this, I kinda feel so great now after this little chat with you =)

        Mancina
  5. First of all, congratulations for not calling names (or better, calling them only when you have something positive to say about them i.e. Susie). This is so amazingly refreshing in the ocean of Italian bloggers that spend their time spitting poison on every other blogger who is more famous than them. Really, chapeau.
    I really liked your post and I share your opinion, but it’s such a complicated topic… I mean, I don’t approve it but on a side I think I understand where this phenomenon of the wrong definitions comes from, so it kinda helps not to be too angry about it.
    I have been writing on my new blog just for a couple of months now, so I think I still have to get back into “blogger mode”and into the whole “being a blogger in 2015 and the era of instagram” thing but my previous blog was 3 year old when I left it and I remember that I spent a lot of time thinking about this topic as well. I spent so much time researching, drawing and writing in two languages for a post (all of that while keeping a 8:30 AM to 9 PM job as a researcher) that I couldn’t stand that someone whose only work was to put their pretty face on a screen could be considered in my same category: a blogger.
    Well the thing is, in my opinion it’s just a whole big media misunderstanding: one day they called someone in the wrong way, the “fake” bloggers jumped on the bandwagon and ignorance (in the neutral meaning of “not knowing a situation”) did the rest. And just like that, out of the blue, people don’t even know what the difference between being a blogger and having an instagram profile means.
    It happens in science all the time too, I can’t even begin to list all the misconceptions and fake facts that people believe just because a newspaper told the news in the wrong way and then it kinda went viral and stays in popular culture forever.
    What I think is: just don’t take it personal. Let them think what they want: if they keep calling “blogger”a pretty girl with a multi-million empire built on emptiness just ignore them and turn the page of the magazine/website where you’re reading it.
    The way they define others will never change you and the great job you’re doing. And even if people might have prejudices about you as a blogger due to these misconceptions, it just takes a look at your content to realize what you have to offer. I might be naive, but I keep preferring facts (and content) to image (and emptyness).
    Keep up the good job

    (yes, I wrote a book of a comment, sorry :p )

    xxx Al
    http://aldraws.blogspot.com

    Al
    • OMG! Thank you SO much for taking your time to write down this comment. It’s a great analysis, so true.
      I don’t really care and take it personal. But it is just funny (ahem, not all the time) that all that brands want from you “as a blogger” is taking pictures of yourself. There would be so much more for a blogger to work on…

      Erica Blue
      • Indeed, and I also hate that “fashion blogger” for many means only take pictures of youreself and that’s it.
        Some people write and take pics, some people draw, some people do reviews of fashion shows, most do many (or all) of these things combined… there is so much more behind the words “fashion blogger”. But oh well, as I said above, keep showing to the world what a real fashion blogger is 😉 and let’s keep hoping that things will change and everyone will be called, one day, with the name they deserve
        xxx

        Al
  6. I believe that this exact Italian blog has lost so much of its contect and interest.. It is not even a blog anymore, if there is no blogger writing in it.. Every time I read it I think that it is just a selling & collaboration machine.. Maybe she should just focus on her other businesses and maybe stop having the blog, if she cannot write in it anymore.. no originality at all.. :*

    http://landing-in-fashion.blogspot.com.es/

    QueenLina
    • exactly, I feel the same :)

      Erica Blue
  7. Sono assolutamente d’accordo con te. Purtroppo mi sembra che il vero senso del blogging sia rimasto in ben pochi blog. sigh spero che arrivino tempi migliori in cui si apprezzi di più chi si impegna nella scrittura piuttosto che nei selfie

    giulia
    • eh speriamo Giulia!

      Erica Blue
  8. penso che in questo momento la questione sia alquanto complessa,ma sono ottimista
    da una parte ci sono ormai molti contenuti un tanto al chilo , cioè blogger ex-di outfit che si riciclano impostando in maniera superficialmente stile “magazine” il proprio sito, per magazine vedo che s’intende quasi sempre articoli superficiali, scritti solo per piazzare gli sponsor e\o attirare visitatori da google, il classico esempio gli elenchi “10 cose che non sai su Pinco Pallino”, in America sono ancora più avanti…ci sono siti\portali che sono in pratica scatole cine
    dall’altra c’è chi sta puntando tutto esclusivamente sui social, in questo sono più gli influencer, che campano solo di foto Instagram e Snapchat, in pratica, come possiamo attribuire qualità a contenuti simili? sono come dei flash che restano lì, in superficie
    fortunatamente c’è una nuova tendenza all’orizzonte, cioè sta tornando di moda scrivere un blog in maniera “umana” e meno stupida, se noti tante sono tornate a spazi personali dove scrivono (evviva!) e dove si possono leggere contenuti

    sara
  9. mi è partito il commento per sbaglio..dicevo scatole cinesi di link, veramente innavigabili

    sara
  10. parte 3 – chiedo venia

    contenuti di qualità intendevo!
    per cui vorrei dire alle blogger di NON MOLLARE di non piegarsi a queste leggi effimere, lasciate questo comportamento a chi da sempre non sa proporre la qualità ma campa di marketing e luci della ribalta
    noi lettori desideriamo leggere, riflettere, a me piace tantissimo navigare sui blog, perchè sono unici, personalizzati, sui social è tutto piatto e omologato, i vostri spazi sono preziosi, non demordete, mi raccomando!
    un saluto

    sara
    • Grazie Sara, mi trovi d’accordo. C’è davvero bisogno di tornare indietro e di riprendere in mano in blog con un po di umiltà e qualcosa da dire soprattutto!

      Erica Blue