Blogging, Events, And Swag. What Is The Responsibility Of The Blogger?

Dan Levy blogging at laptop keyboard...OK technically this is a posed picture but that IS my hand and that IS my laptop from where I blog.

I have mentioned more than once how I love being a blogger and standing up on my digital soap box talking about things that strike my fancy every day of every week. I have also mentioned how often times this results in me receiving invites to events or receiving things from companies/brands to try out. However, while I appreciate each and every invitation I get and I love getting free stuff from brands/companies to try out (this is also known as ‘swag’) I have always maintained my honesty and integrity here on this blog and have been completely open about things with my blog readers. This is, in my opinion and in the opinions of readers who I have communicated with, part of what makes my blog, my posts, and my writing style attractive.

A couple of weeks back, actually it was on the day I went to the Ex, I read a tweet from Spiro aka @mandylor of ItsAllStyleToMe.com. I am going to quote it to you directly and post a screenshot of it but, for full disclosure’s sake, here is a link to it. The tweet read: “PR firms make sure bloggers provide verifiable web stats, twitter, FB accounts. Demand a post within 72 hours fashion show/event. #blogs.”

At first I agreed with Spiro when I read his tweet and I retweeted it. However, upon further reflection since then – the tweet was tweeted on August 24th around 3PM – and I came to realize that while I think Spiro is a good guy I don’t 100% agree with him. Why is this? Well, while I agree that PR Firms should be more than entitled to check with bloggers/online personalities for their stats to ensure that the PR company’s client is getting value for inviting people to the event or sending them swag at the same time who is to say that the event/product will be worth writing about?