NOTE: This is an original piece originally published in 2017 on my other website [turfsitemanila.com].
I started blogging in 2003. With the aim of having an online information repository of places I have been to, experiences, and things I encountered, having a blog (weblog) site is the most viable solution.
For the first few months of blogging, I didn’t have a single care about my readers. That changed when I started receiving personal emails from strangers sending their thanks and kudos on articles in my blog. That’s when I realized that indeed, people are reading my blog. PR agencies started sending me invites to attend press/media events and the like. Brands started sending me stuff for review. But since I was still a corporate warrior then, I could only attend press launch events after office hours and do awesome reviews on weekends.
My circle of blogger friends grew. The blogging community then was so healthy. Legitimate blogging award-giving bodies highlight the crème de la crème of the local blogosphere. PR agencies and brands value the essence of having a scoop, exclusive or first dibs on things.
Then came the rise of gatecrashers, fake, and loot bag “bloggers” recently.
Being on the other side of the coin, organizing events for a tiny global non-profit locally, I have had my fair share of being gatecrashed by these loot bag “bloggers” with a couple of them trying to scam us. In 2013, my organization was approached by two “bloggers” organizing an IT conference originally scheduled in a big public university south of Metro Manila with 500 students as guaranteed attendance. Asking money in exchange for a speaking slot and booth at the conference, we managed to have a deal of giving them imported giveaways with the equivalent amount of sponsorship. Lo and behold, the night before the event, the school venue suddenly became unavailable and we were told that the IT conference would be moved to a fast food outlet. Yes, a fast food outlet (and we have photos of the “IT conference” less their bee mascot). Imagine having an IT event inside a fast food joint with big tech companies as sponsors; can’t help but LOL on it until now.
Fast forward to 2017, the era of the #Tuppergate scandal. Still hear horror stories from friends in the PR and Tech industries about gatecrashers in their events. These “bloggers” will pop up on press launches and events even if their names don’t appear in the RSVP and guest list. They feel so privileged to the point of harassing the organizers to let them into the event. They are not after the press coverage of the product or service being launched — they’re looking forward to the free meal and loot bags (giveaways) when #TeamFreebies came into existence.
The Case of a Fake Media Site
Weeks ago, I was invited to cover a local tech event organized by a foreign organization. The conference was so organized that it even had a mobile app and website complete with all the sessions, booths, and attendees. Browsing through the categorized attendees’ list, I noticed someone familiar — the guy who tried to scam our organization years ago, and he is now claiming to be a Social Media Manager for an online “news organization” based in Vietnam.
I sent a message to the news organization’s social media and email address (found on their website), only to receive a personal response from that person asking what my problem(?) was! Why I was so persistent in knowing if he, indeed is part of that “news organization?” Never received a response via email from them. The contacts page of the site only contains an online form and an email address using a Swiss domain extension.
Checking on the articles posted on their website and social media, all I could see were articles pointing to published news items from both local and international legitimate news sources.
Could these “blaggers” become so creative now to the point of creating a “fake media site” just to gain access to conferences and events, giving the organizers an impression that they are legitimate?
I still consider myself a blogger even if I write for a daily now (as a columnist).
In this age of fake news, misinformation, and blaggers, we should also be cautious with dealing with fake and loot-bag bloggers and #TeamFreebies.