Bloggers’ delight
If you’re a fashion blogger or have any interest in the future of fashion blogs (which I’m guessing you are/do as otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this), you must read this compelling article by Nicola Copping in the FT about fashion bloggers and brands. One of the points it flags up is the attention bloggers are getting from brands keen to engage with them and how a blogger handles the seductive nature of being courted. Once a brand starts paying you attention, showering you with compliments and offering you freebies products for ‘review’, it can become increasingly hard to maintain your integrity. Brands and PR agencies are now hosting blogger meet-and-greets in order to build relationships with bloggers in a similar way to the PR-journalist relationship. But blogs aren’t magazines and bloggers don’t *have* to follow a code. However, in reality it’s very hard to be impartial about a brand or product if you have met and liked its representative, it makes you feel like a bit of a bitch if you have a negative viewpoint.