I’m Not Press Or An Agency

I am sitting here at the Bloggers’ Lounge at Affiliate Summit East in NYC. AKA where all the Social Media people hangout away from the affiliate people.

I am here as an “official blogger” in the TechSet bloggers’ lounge. So when I checked in, my nametag was labeled as “Press”. In addition, every nametag at Affiliate Summit falls into one of four groups: Agency, Affiliate, Network, and Merchant.

Agency seemed like the best fit for me at the time. I am a consultant and event planner, and I don’t work in affiliate marketing, so I get why there was not a firm fit for me here.

As a blogger, I am starting to be treated like press more and more. I don’t consider myself press but I get it. My audience and authority are growing. And with that growth comes an increased interest from others in leveraging that audience and for me an increased responsibility. The FTC is now taking a closer look at bloggers and social media. Moving to treat them more like press.

The more I blog the more I begin to act like press as well. I interview more. I break news more. I recruit other writers. I consider newsworthiness, audience interests, and considering larger impacts of my writing. My goal is to educate, not to become a media outlet, but the more I blog, I view the lines between these divisions as pretty blurry these days.

Blogging is now a major piece of media as a whole. Most bloggers need to begin paying attention to the journalism side of blogging. PR companies are targeting bloggers more than ever. And brands are also working directly with bloggers. Blogs are more than a publishing platform. They are more and more media platforms. Should this be the goal for every blogger? No, it is not for me. But whether it is sought out, the larger impact of blogging must be considered.