A conversation generated by Autumn at All About Cloth Diapers, then continued by Tara at Padded Tush Stats, piqued my interest this morning. In a blog review on Autumn’s page, she voiced an opinion about copy cat diapers and those manufactured in China versus WAHM US made diapers. A reader took issue with this, essentially calling the blogger biased.
The conversations on facebook primarily turned to the debate about where diapers are made, how much they cost, and who we should support with our funds, but I think there’s a broader issue here. Can we reasonably expect bloggers to be unbiased? Can individuals who accept advertising, benefit from free products, and build relationships with manufacturers and business owners truly be objective? Does is matter if their reviews are subjective?
I don’t hide the fact that I enjoyed the cloth diapering community more when I joined it three years ago. Much of this was probably just my naivete, but it felt organic and grassroots. I loved being a part of what seemed to essentially be a community of moms supporting each other, sharing experiences, and finding innovative ways to get cloth diapers into consumer’s hands. I also preferred blogs that didn’t accept advertising because, while I understand that they make it possible for many bloggers to treat their blogs as a part-time job, I believe they have to influence content.
If I’m being completely honest, however, I also preferred the early days of cloth diapering’s emergence into social media because it benefited me and that’s my bias. I loved reviewing cloth diapers a few times a month, trying multiple brands out without breaking my budget, being on the cutting edge, and drawing traffic to my blog. These days, you see fewer reviews here because I don’t have a cloth diaper only blog, competition is fierce, and many reviews and giveaways, understandably, go to the bloggers with the largest following.
Since that time, more cloth diapering businesses have emerged, social media experts and bloggers have positioned themselves as front runners in the cloth diapering community, and a google search for “cloth diapers” will overwhelm you. I believe this is ultimately a good thing for cloth diapers, for the economy, and the environment. It’s not without it’s pitfalls.
Just like this morning’s conversation naturally led to being informed about our purchases, I believe we should also be informed about where our information is coming from. Who benefits from the blog post we’re reading? What are the personal and professional relationships between the blogger and business owners? How might the blogger or business be biased and are they being upfront about these connections? What are the positives and negatives about receiving information from a business, a professional blogger, an occasional reviewer, or a new blogger?
I’m nostalgic for the old days when I could surf the internet and find all kinds of blogs – big and small – representing the diversity in the cloth diapering community with reviews. I enjoyed feeling like the review came from a neighbor who also budgeted for cloth diapers and who felt a thrill each time company said “yes” to a review request. One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing a blogger complain that they have more free review diapers than they can use or that their successful blog takes up too much time. I also feel like the conversations are heavily dominated by sponsors, businesses, and a few individuals wherever I turn. I find myself turning more often to a small, private fb group of cloth diapering moms I was recently invited to join.
Not everyone is like me, though, and that is a good thing. Popular expert bloggers and business pages are well known and respected because they bring quality information to readers. They also draw in a large number of readers, so they can offer exclusive reviews and high value giveaways. I even follow a large number of them myself and appreciate their efforts and important contributions toward bringing cloth diapers into the mainstream. I just want to make sure I’m not naive about their biases.
I don’t want this to sound like I’m headed down a path of X-Files conspiracy theories or that I’m accusing anyone of being shady. I just think we’re fooling ourselves if we really believe bloggers are or even should be totally unbiased. And, as much as cloth diapering families are still in the minority, we shouldn’t kid ourselves into believing that cloth diapering isn’t big business with it’s share of egos, elbow throwing, and savvy marketing.
Ultimately, I don’t think there’s one “right” way to blog about cloth diapers. I don’t think advertising is evil. I don’t even think bias is bad. I just think we as a community need to be flexible and aware as things grow and change and make sure we’re informed about where our information is coming from.
You’re definitely hitting on what I saw as my huge pet peeve a few years ago. I saw the very same people who had already reviewed 4 or 5 brand new diapers vying for the same giveaways I was. When I made a comment about it, I got pretty heavily slammed. Whatever. I wasn’t being rude, it was just something to note. Those just building their stash competing with say, Autumn, or Kim of DDL doesn’t really seem fair (it wasn’t them, btw). By the time I had my head above water and started asking about reviewing diapers, I was simply told ‘we don’t do that’, only to have more reviews of the same diaper, sponsored by the same place, show up. Umm, what? Tell me no, but don’t lie to me. I’ve gotten a chance to ‘test’ a few diapers (sometimes wit a cost) and I tried to be as fair as possible. If I recommend diapers, I try and tell people WHY I recommend them (or for instance, I buy from a ‘more local’ to me retailer because the shipping is free and it gets to me within one day..) I try and tell good and bad without being rude or overzealous. I need to figure out how to use rafflecopter because I have one to do as of now. Unfortunately, those types of things just bewilder me. I’ve been diapering for as long as some of the ‘power houses’, longer, in fact. Maybe it’s a bit of jealousy that I didn’t get in on the ground floor of reviews–it would give my blog some purpose, I guess.
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
Thanks for finally talking about >Blogging, Business, and Bias in the Cloth Diapering Community <Loved it!