The Unwritten Bloggers' Code

I have forsaken my much treasured afternoon nap (when you're insomniac you go to sleep at 2.30 AM and when your 7-year-old is being fussy you can't help but move your butt at 6 AM to make sure he's behaving and go to school in time. I NEED my nap!) to write this because i am oh-so-irked at the moment.

I am not a veteran blogger nor am i one of the most successful one around, i have only been blogging for less than two years (going to celebrate this blog's second bday on December!) but in those short but memorable almost two years, i have learned a few of the unwritten bloggers' code. There are more but that i might learn in the future, but at the moment for me all of the codes/rules boil down to one point and one point only : R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Half of this blog post is inspired by my fellow blogger's, Dewie's, FB status a few days ago (was it yesterday? I can't remember...) but more to that later (on the second part of this blog post)-it combined with another incident propels me to write this little piece. You might or might not agree with me, i don't really care-but if you have common sense then you should. LOL. There are not a lot of points, but every points really counts.

Point ONE :

For Bloggers :

1. Be courteous

Show your gratitude, when you're a blogger who attends events and do reviews then never fail to thank whoever sends you stuffs/invite you to an event. If you do not care about the product or event, then maybe you shouldn't accept the item/invitation in the first place. I personally would always thank whoever invites me (or even just mention me to the event organizer that in the end gave me the chance to be invited) to an event PERSONALLY. If the person gave you their name (which they would, 99% of the time), it never hurts to thank them again in your blog post. You might be thinking "Why should i? It's their job! (to spread the invitation)", then think again. It might be the brand/company who's having the event, but without the person sitting behind the table, typing an invitation letter for you, you would not be able to attend it.

2. Be respectful to your fellow bloggers

Blogging community is a small community, what goes around comes around. Especially in Indonesia, and ESPECIALLY locally. I don't believe in seniority or whatever, but you can always learn from those who've been in this (blogging) world longer than you-and most of them would gladly share their "wisdom" (except for the few super stuck up ones) IF you are respectful to them (respect is not a matter of age, i would try my best to show respect to everybody-who earns it-even if they're less than half my age!).

3. Always say thanks

It's the combination of point one or two, you need to always say THANKS (okay, not if you're an ignorant B, but if you are then you shouldn't be reading this blog post anyway) and that's not only to brands/company, but also to you fellow bloggers who did nice things for you. Some brands would send invitation to one blogger and then ask that blogger to bring her blogger friends (which is happening to me a lot for some reason), yes the invitation is from the company but your blogger friend has NO obligation to invite you. (And yes, some brands/companies never requires you to write a piece on their event, but isn't it why they ask bloggers to come? For coverage? We're not celebrities that can grace an event just by our presence *LOL*! If you continue to neglect giving coverage after getting free stuffs/been to an event where you're given free stuffs, don't be surprised if no brands/companies would ever invite you again. It's called being responsible of what you establish yourself to be. Dare to call yourself a blogger? Then blog!)

In fact, if they're the person who seems to always be "in charge" (Kathy calls me something like "Mother Hen" which i really hate because it makes me seem so old and let's face it, i look much younger than majority of people who are younger than me :p) they can easily CUT OFF your access. I know it's much cooler to write as if the brands approach you personally (in some people's minds), but that's being disrespectful to your blogger friend who went to all that trouble extending the invitation to you. Remember, if you neglect showing the overdue gratitude to them, they would think 10x before tipping you for another event/sponsorship.

4. Give credit

I occasionally take pictures from the internet but save from generic cartoon memes or those with lack of original sources, i would always mention the source, especially if it comes from another person's blog. LINK BACK, it's another form of saying thank you for letting you borrow their pictures. I don't always link my friends' names because i mention them over and over again (you know like Kathy, or Olin) and for some cases... I might know your personally but i am not familiar with your blog. And since i don't owe you anything, i don't really have to link back. I would when i can and remember to, but it's not a must.

5. Be sociable but never suffocating

Like i mentioned earlier, it's a small world. When you're friendly and engage with your audience/blogger friends people are most likely to remember you-which only leads to a lot of good things. Having said that, i am not one to "Follow back, please!" kind of blogger. Some might think i am snobbish/arrogant, but i want you to follow my blog only if you're interested in it, not because i want my follower's number to be great. If you compare this blog's traffic and the followers (we only have about 350 followers and all scattered in G+, GFC and Bloglovin, in fact you can see our GFC followers are only a measly 79 *LOL*) then you might notice a little discrepancy, but that's okay. Our blog's worth is not counted by numbers. I can now politely refuse requests to follow back, but once in a while people would go to all the trouble to personally message me and then i find it really hard to say no. Please don't do that...

That's all i can think of at the top of my head, if anything else comes up i'll update/do a part 2. 

Now on to second point (which should be a lot shorter) :

For Brands/Companies :

1. Don't approach bloggers if you have no fix deal/plan to see it through (or what we like to call PHP-Pemberi Harapan Palsu or False Hope Giver *LOLOLOL*)

It's not like i have plenty of brands/companies running after me to get their products reviewed or whatever (i seem to get a lot more event invitation or writing project requests than product review requests-i probably suck at reviewing products *LOL*) but i've gotten quite a few of unpleasant incidents (all involving big, famous companies) where they would approach me, even set up a little "meeting" (since i am not residing in Jakarta then the meeting would be over the phone or Skype), ask for my address and phone number (which i DO NOT give out easily. Well, except for our office's address coz i couldn't care less if it gets spread out!), give me time tables and deadlines and then... Nothing. Just disappear into thin air. It's super annoying and disrespectful to the blogger (see, it's all come back to respect! I should title this post RESPECT probably), just don't approach us if you do not have a fix deal and you can make sure you'll be able to pull it through. 

2. Treat bloggers like you would other journalists

We are journalists, we just have a different platform than those newspaper/magazine people. But guess what, our audience's wider and even people who are not into specific things might end up in our blog just by googling (trust me, my niece BB kept on complaining because my pics kept on popping up on Google search when she was searching for different things). I can never stress this enough, for brands/companies who are thinking of collaborating with bloggers-train your staffs to be aware of us and what we do. We have enough of undertrained staffs treating us like some gift/freebie hunter that should be bitched at. We do not get free stuffs, we get stuffs in exchange for all of our troubles-which includes being there and writing a piece about your product/event (and that would cost you a lot less than ads in traditional medias)

3. Bloggers' work is their property

Unless you have asked a blogger to sign an agreement (like in advert posts where the blogger should agree that the brand/company has every right to that very article and every pictures in that article), respect the bloggers' work. Even if they're covering your event/reviewing your product, if you want to use those pictures for different purposes (further advertisement, for an instant), ask for permission. They'd most likely to give you consent (if the picture/article's about your company anyway), but they would feel less robbed when you have the courtesy to ask. I must credit Jennie from Miracle for always making sure with us that every picture, testimonial, and article are okay to be used before actually using them!

I think that covers just about all, please feel free to add any points (be reasonable though!) in the comment section below! 

Feeling much better,

#Pink