Thoughts on PR Blackout Week

Thoughts on PR Blackout Week

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(Note: Cross posted on the Ogilvy Fresh Influence blog)

We are 10 days away from PR Blackout Week – a week for mom bloggers to get back to the basics of blogging and temporarily ignore PR folks and brands – being organized by mom blog aggregator MomDot.  Opinions have varied as to  whether or not this is necessary or is a PR tactic in its own right. Regardless of your position, it is a wonderful invitation to discuss the state of union and give current practices a good sniff test.We see PR Blackout Week is a timely call to refocus all of us who love blogs on the value exchange that must take place in order for them to maintain their magic.   This sounds soft, but it is very real – the whole notion of “Digital Influence” is the changing sources and forces of influence around us.  If blogs went the way of infomercials, we would start blocking them with our Personal Message Shield(TM) along with the rest of the noise that bombards us daily.  Absolutely everyone in that scenario loses.

I participate at all levels of this particular food chain – I’m a mom, a PR professional, a blogger,  and a blog reader.  When I think about this value exchange issue, I ask myself a few questions in front of the mirror in harsh flourescent light:

  • Am I, as a PR professional, providing something of true value to the bloggers I would like to work with?
  • Are bloggers, by working with me, in turn empowered to share something of value with their readers (insights, a new experience, media, meaningful pass alongs, etc)
  • Am I acting in the best interests of the ultimate blog readers when I work to craft a blogger experience?
  • Am I as a blogger delivering great content to my readership?
  • Am I actively supporting the bloggers who provide me with great content, ideas, experiences, and laughter?

While PR Blackout week may not be for you, there’s no time like the present to look at your own RSS reader, your blog, or your blogger engagement programs to reassess whether or not you pass the test on adding value to every link in the chain.

6 Replies to “Thoughts on PR Blackout Week”

  2. Personally I’m new and still haven’t had the opportunity to work with a PR company yet but I still think the blackout is a good idea for those participating. I’ve met so many burned out bloggers and I think it’s nice for them to be able to take a break and refocus on what’s truly important to them. Of course many may return to PR blogging but I think for those they will be doing it with the knowledge that that is their calling and what gives them enjoyment and ultimately that’s why we are all here.

  3. I am a review & giveaway blogger. It’s what I do, so PR blackout does not apply to me. But I certainly understand why it is neccesary and I appreciate moms who do blog about their lives and families getting back to writing about what they really care about. They make for much better reading. I really enjoyed your unbiased approach and will be following your blog in the future.

  4. I think these are great questions that all bloggers should ask themselves. As a “mom blogger,” I always make sure I post content for its relevance to my beliefs and make sure it’s worth my readers’ time.

  5. I love the questions you pose from all sides of the issue, and in fact may need to get them tattooed in some inconspicuous place for easy reference- palms, perhaps? It’s easy to take yourself for a spin up the primrose path, based on something that sounds like it’s beneficial to the blogger.
    But if it, at some point, doesn’t give value to readers as well, they (completely legitimately) begin to question the value of their presence. Thank you for posing this in a way that’s so free of hysteria and hyperbole that it takes guesswork out of the process.

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