Blogger — Sounds Insulting

At 44, I accidentally became a blogger. It wasn’t planned. I never aspired to be one. Furthermore, the most interesting part is that I like what I do, however, I absolutely do not like what it is called. After acquiring the most versatile jobs throughout my life, and receiving a fairly thorough education, including a foreign one, I ended up being a blogger. This at least sounds strange. I am one hundred percent overqualified for this job, as the American expression goes. Roughly speaking, this is like when the science candidate goes to work as a driver or a security guard. There is nothing wrong with that, and in Russia this would be considered a normal situation.

My husband always says that money is earned best by doing what you do best. He states, “if you write well, hone your skill.” Indeed, I launched my own online magazine, where I write a lot myself as well as publish articles of my talented subscribers. This is how our content is formed.

Every day, I create content. My life, in fact, is full of content, so everything comes easily for me. I regularly go LIVE (this is another common word, without which the life of bloggers is impossible). I don’t have a lot of online subscribers (i.e. 20,000 Instagram users is not considered a lot by today’s standards). I became a full blogger only 9 months ago. I don’t have a single purchased follower, and I have an explanation for this. I wanted to do everything honestly, including   topics for discussion and my appearance. It seemed to me that authenticity is my strong trait, and this is how the audience is able to

penetrate. And everything seems right, if not for one small “but”. If, for example, I am very kind, sincere, open, honest, and I hack the truth, then the majority are my complete opposites. As a result, people like me usually seem annoying. A woman who speaks up, who is also independent, most often causes irritation. The most fascinating aspect is that the irritation usually comes from men rather than from women.

Before becoming a professional blogger, I wrote for sport.ru for about three years, and then switched to Spletnik. Believe me, after such work experience, I developed immunity, and I know how to cope with the “attack of the clones” once or twice — I was never loved by the majority, and I got used to it. It cannot be otherwise. Love between a blogger and  a subscriber is seldom. Unfortunately, as a rule, they boil down to a kind of sado-maso model: the blogger provokes, the subscriber reacts, a conflict arises. Both sides enter into a verbal skirmish. Exodus? “Drama” and new subscribers.

I have never studied the “market”, and apparently in vain. Before “entering this water”, it was necessary to test the pitfalls. The blogger community is such a meat grinder. Behind each account of 100   thousand or more followers, there is an “ideological mastermind” who makes colossal money. I mean, I don’t mind it at all. Another thing is   how they protect their space! As soon as something goes wrong, they feel triggered. Not so long ago as yesterday, I became a part of one dramatic story. I made a harmless collage, as it seemed to me, of the same type of “mom-bloggers”. Literally a few minutes later, I received angry messages like, “Immediately delete my photos!” To be frank, I didn’t even understand who wrote to me and about what. So I began to figure it out. I was convicted of stealing photos, and also threatened   that if I do not delete their photos, then the “mommy-blogger” would force her subscribers to unsubscribe from me. I was insulted several times and accused of a strange desire for “hype”.

Of course, this story amuses me, but nothing more. Moreover, it gives me eternal inspiration to keep writing my texts. I was not too lazy and

studied similar accounts. Guys, we are just being quietly fooled! These bloggers are like thimbleriggers at the Kiev railway station. Indeed, we ourselves would follow them, but this, comrades, is an entire mafia!!!

According to my observations, there is a whole technique of fooling us. The phrases like “click here”, “like if …”, “was thinking to whom I could send 10 thousand rubles”, “marathon” — these are all hellish account promotion tools. For some reason, we ourselves get enchanted by these “prize games”.

Furthermore, the form of text presentation itself. Even columns, exclamation marks of different colors, “stars” next to each paragraph. As soon as you see the word “cooperation” in the caption, you urgently need to run at breakneck speed!!! “Bonus”, “card”, “promo code” — these are the words that should arouse suspicion. In my opinion, every individual should draw his own conclusions and subscribe to the accounts he actually admires. A person just needs to be able to answer the question of what benefit this or that account brings to him. I mean, I don’t deny the fact that someone just wants to get a “gift card” and that’s it.

To conclude, when someone calls me a blogger, I don’t feel  comfortable. Can we come up with a different title of this job for me? A “thimble”, maybe? I mean, this already sounds less offensive.

Author: Masha Lopatova