Spring break is here and I've been tanning so I don't burn as easily on my cruise. The Other day as I stepped into my 10 minute mini-vacation in the "box of sun," I was thinking about blogging. It made me wonder, if you can fake a tan... can you fake a blog? I did some Googling and found fake blogs are as common as a KU men's basketball win.


The real bloggers had few things to say about how to detect a fake blog:
1. Most fake blogs are just part of an ad campaign. Shel Holtz is a real person, and he blogged about fake blogs. He says fake blogs can be a great way for advertisers to reach out to their target audience. Adding, it's kind of sketchy because the company is convincing readers they're reading a real blogger when in fact it's a fictitious character. I, on the other hand, think that advertisers are smart for doing this because they're making the public relate to their product.
Silly clown, you can't blog!Photo: Ronald McDonald House
McDonalds did this by hiring people to blog about their Mickey D's experiences. Unfortunately, the the plan was foiled and people know that there in fact wasn't a person obsessed with collecting the train pieces from the Monopoly game. They just wanted to create a buzz around the game. Silly clown, blogs are for real people!
2. Cartoon character's can't blog. In other words, don't be fooled by Captain Morgan blogging. The infamous captain has left his mark on the blogging realm and has a blog on his site which allows "Morganettes" to blog about their "beverage" experiences. So, by defination just because real Morganettes log on and blog about their favorite Captain recipes, the blog is real. Holtz said if the Morganettes think they're actually talking to the Captain, they should put down their drink.
3. They have a fun buzzword: flog. And guess what... like the Oscars and Tonys, they have awards too! They're called the Floggies!! I think the important lesson learned is not only are people reading the fake blogs, but they're aware they're fake. And better yet, they're voting to see who's worse at letting us know they're fake.
So partially to my own naiveness, I now know when reading blogs, I need to make sure its legit. Because like a deep SoCal tan in the middle of January - looks can be deceiving.
Leave a comment