Bloggers Integrity
People forget that if blogging is someone’s sole source of income, they really do need to make money. If you have a bill to pay then I’m not here to judge, and we all have to eat. However, there are times when you’re scrolling through someone’s Instagram feed and you come across an AD that is completely out of place against the rest of the content. Let’s not forget the whole Natural Cycles scandal and all those ‘detox’ teas. There are many bloggers/ Youtubers who have gone down in my estimation purely based on promoting these products.
As Bloggers How Do We Maintain Integrity?
There are three things that I always try and do, and will continue to do. I always think back to why I started blogging in the first place. Things have changed so much in those five years and it’s nice to remember why I began doing this. Secondly, I only work with brands that fit with my blog and align with my code. Finally, you wouldn’t recommend a terrible product to friends and family so why do it online? Honesty is key!
Trust
I think the moral of the story is probably to only follow bloggers you trust, that play by the rules. Think about whether an opportunity aligns with your own code of ethics. I think if you are a blogger who reads other blogs you tend to understand the process more.
You wouldn’t criticise someone in any other career for making money yet bloggers always come under fire for doing the same. I saw something on Twitter (I can’t remember the source) which basically said people don’t complain when magazines do about 50 pages of ADs yet there’s uproar when a blogger has one. Bloggers shouldn’t have to apologise for doing sponsored posts and they shouldn’t be seen any differently from any other content. Just remember, no amount of money will ever buy back your integrity
Thank you for talking about this! I mentioned this myself in this post https://yvonnewairimuwabai.weebly.com/blog/bloggers-tag because you’re right, the lines have gotten blurred.
Agreed! However you know I feel this way. 😊
This is such an interesting discussion and you’ve mentioned some great points in this post; particularly staying true to ourselves and keeping ethics in mind! Merry Christmas!
aglassofice.com x
Author
Thank you 😊 have a lovely Christmas!x
I love the whole idea of this post; I definitely agree, and although I accept that millions of people make money via blogging (even me) and some can completely rely on it as their income, it is a little weird that 90% of what they are saying could be false. These are such interesting points! xx
Author
It always gets me when bloggers have a new skincare product that’s their favourite each week and they swear they won’t use anything else – until their next ad! xx