This is not a blog
Is it any wonder I refuse to term myself a “blogger”?
There is a small item today in which I learn that apparently “bloggers” and “social influencers” are bitch-fighting each other over advertising on their sites.
So far as I can see, the blog scene here in Ireland has been taken over by a mass of Young Wans [they seem to be around 95% female, and I don’t know what the other 5% are] who are all seeking fame and fortune by frantically promoting clothing and make-up. Their happiness seems to be gauged by how many “followers” they have on Snapchat and Instagram, which is obviously where I am missing out as I don’t have accounts in either. In fact I’m not even sure what they are.
Can someone please explain to me what an “influencer” is precisely? It seems to be a highly regarded term and is up there with “professional” and “celebrity”. I have seen one or two on television [with the sound muted!] and they positively preen themselves when the “influencer” caption comes on. I presume it means they influence people, but those people must have pretty minuscule minds if they are taken in by a drop of blatant advertising?
So “Blog” seems to to be a platform [some of the idiots involved even regard anything online such as Farcebook as a blog?] where young people promote clothing, fashion, make-up and the like, and has very little to do with actual writing. I’m not being a snob here, but I just don’t consider “this is a must have lipstick for that celeb occasion” to be worthy of the term writing.
This is quite definitely NOT a blog. I don’t seek to influence anyone. If anything I write gives someone pause for thought than I am more than happy. I do have Twitter and Farcebook accounts but rarely use them. Basically I just set them up to see what all the fuss was about. Snapchat, Instagram and all those other “social media” places are foreign territory and from bitter experience the very act of joining means a constant flood of irritating emails.
My rankings on Farcebook and Twitter have remained more or less static for the last couple of years. Traffic to this site is also static, and in fact has possibly dropped a bit, but I don’t care. That isn’t important. It only becomes important when my readership goes negative.
My preferred title is Scribbler.
I know it sounds like I have a passion for wax crayons and bedroom walls, but I don’t give a shite.
Aw Jayzus thanks! That more than makes my day.
Thanks for the read. 🙂
I too enjoy it, and my other half quite often gets a “hey up, listen to this” when I read your “scribbles”, so ignore the advertising, you dont need it, in fact if you had it, you would`nt have me, or others like me, so you want a reader who “paused for thought” or one who “paused and bought”.
“The Irish influencer community is coming under pressure from social media users to become more transparent.”
I wonder what it says about my current state of mind (ie SAD) that I read that as “Irish Influenza Community”.
Ps.Granddad when you get chance (assuming you don’t take your laptop into the toilet with you) could you please, pretty please, white list my IP again? Bloody craptcha is annoying.
IP whitelisted. 😉
Scribbler works for me, you brighten my day even though I don’t always reply. As for whether you have a passion for wax crayons and bedroom walls, who cares if you do or don’t you reached an age you can do what ever the fuck you want to (though I suspect you’ve always done what ever the fuck you want to).
[they seem to be around 95% female,
Wanting to keep you out of trouble with the Law, may I suggest the following edit: “They seem to identify with the Female-CIS-but-in-a-totally-non-anti LGBTWTF-way gender” ?
Aw fuck that – they don’t have mickies.
Piss on advertising and influence; I still make my money the old fashioned way – extortion.
Infuencer: Just another non-word term to excite the masses and basically support lazy journalism. Let’s just call them all “influencers”, they say, and be done with it. All I know is that when I pass gas it influences anyone in the same room I am. It influences them to leave the room.
I hereby retract my offer of accommodation should you ever visit Ireland.
Excuse the heck outa me, why dontcha. Here’s the guy’s book review, where the words blog and blogger are used.
Presumably that was then, when the thought of monetising the blog was an issue, it was okay to use the term.
https://thejtg.com/head-rambles-by-richard-o-connor.html
And there I was thinking only politicians had selective memories.
(By the by, said book’s now available as a FREE pdf).
That goes back a very long time to the days before the pink fluffy brigade took over. Those were the good days of Irish blogging. In the annual awards there used to be such categories as Personal and Humour. Those categories don’t even exist any more.
The book contents have always been FREE. Just read this site!
As I recall, Blog is a contraction of web-log, an internet diary sort of thingy. I had no idea it had been hijacked by “influencers” (which sound to me like something/someone with a nasty virus).
That makes sense. I’ve sometimes wondered where the word ‘blog’ came from, and that sounds to me to be eminently feasible.
In the dark distant past-before Twitter was even a twinkle in Zuckerberg’s eye there was such a creature as a ‘moblog’ or a ‘mobile blog’ even , I had one. Each post a lo res cellphone photo and short ‘what I had for breakfast’ type comment sent from a phone that still thought WAP was the canine’s.
https://s10.postimg.org/7a2zk7da1/moblog1.png
Was that from the same Nena that had neunundneunzig balloons?
Never heard of it! I must live a sheltered life?
Well, no matter if you call it blogging, scribbling or cauliflower – I look forward to it each and every day.
… and then I promptly take a day off! Have I become an addictive substance?
Having started my blog when the so-called influencers were still running around with snotty noses, I refuse to concede the word to social media sites!