To be fed up of Instamums 2

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Continued from original post...

mayflower I think that if you don't like what you see un-follow is true to a point. Sure if you dont like them when why hate follow this concept baffles me but one of the issues raised here is that you like what you see because you think it is genuine and then find out that they are actually promoting stuff because they got it for free without disclosing. Sure you an un-follow at the point of that discovery but I can at least understand why people would be a little annoyed that they were being mislead, and don't think there is anything wrong with someone expressing their feelings on the back of that.

BubbleAnimal I agree. When we first started Timeless Vie etc there was a number of people who said - why do you care? Ignore people who are MLM bots if it bothers you, women should support women etc. etc. I'm reminded of those comments with some of the defensiveness from SOME of the instamums (cept pukka! hi!)

The issue of stealth advertising, instagram ethics etc needs to be talked about without personal attacks on either side. Please.

This thread is about being fed up with some of the aspects and why it's happened.(I thought) I don't hate-follow. I used to follow and had to stop, or took a glance at the IG or blog and never did. I thought this thread was about why some of us are fed up with most of them and why..so I guess the same could be said "if you don't want to hear about what annoys ppl about instamums , don't read a thread about it"
Barring nasty personal comments of course, those are not constructive

lastuseraccount123 I've been a distant supporter of timeless vie since the very conception in a thread here, and then it's FB group. So I understand that fight entirely. And yes, there are similarities.

I don't hate-follow anyone either, though I might occasionally check in on pages that I have previously un-followed to see if there's been any change/if it's worth following them again.

yup there are.

I follow very few of the people mentioned here it seems. But everyone uses Instagram differently.

meandorla.co.uk/instagrams-new-branded-content-what-is-means-for-you/ - this is interesting

Pocket, that's really interesting. So in the example of Mod and Fod and their boots nits campaign, that should have a sponsored tag at the top here on in. As for the other freebies such as the holidays, they now have to be clear in the caption. And users have to do it.

I'm using mod and fod as an example as they have been referenced a lot in these threads, these two campaigns in particular.

I think unfortunately the mentioning freebies bit is still just "good practice" unless the brand "requires" you to mention them, so same old problem. But it's a start.

Yes that's very interesting thanks Pocket. I hope it means #ad's become more transparent in future.

I noticed SV promoting some expensive face cream products recently (which is fine and was clearly labelled as an #ad), but instead of leaving it there she started saying that she used to be poor and would resort to using 'Simple' face cream products. 'Simple' isnt even that cheap and is the number one skincare brand. I wish she realised how many people she's alienating with these comments.

I don't believe any of them drink #jacobscreek either. They are all about the prosecco and the gin.

I did see one insta mum (one that I actually love) do an ad for a pedigree chum app this week, I don't want to unfollow so if you are reading this, please no more ads!!

Muthahood seems alright

I could never be an instamum. Sadly I don't have a very rich husband 👎👎👎

@lizzieloveshealthy here. New to Mn. Old to Ig.
I'm a bit late to the party. But have found this debate fascinating. I just read both threads in one go.
As a mum and a blogger (just food) so much of this is out there and new and unprecedented. As you've all said. So it's interesting to hear all thoughts on this.
The #ad for a post that is now expected by followers and required (I think)by brands, if you've been paid to do work for them.
But the murky area of free stuff I'm still working out.
I get sent free food/drink/healthy stuff frequently. And mostly nothing happens. But if I like it and think another mum trying to give her kids/family decent food might want to know about it I do post it or put on stories. But it's all about the trust I think.
I go with my gut. And I've never charged for a post. But I do collabs and write recipes for brands that I am in line with.

But I'm learning. And I do post my kids. Mainly my smallest (4). Started off as people wanted to see that kids are my stuff and now he's a regular on stories.

But I'd love to know more. Is a free packet of muesli that all my kids hoover up an #ad if I then say it was tasty? If no money changes hands? I don't think so. But I do say. "Look what we got sent".

It's too late. And I'll stop rambling. But loving all your chat on here. Really useful to know. In a world of making it up as you go.

Hi Lizzie, my gut feeling is food is a different commodity especially when you have a food blog, it's not really inline with holidays or computers or hundreds of pounds of Boden clothes etc etc. It's like a different world. Also if you are gifted expensive things say a pair of Microsoft laptops or @google or a villa for a week or a car for a year, your review of them maybe completely different to spending hard cash on the product. A box of muesli may be the same in principle but it's a different level completely.

Who is MOD AND FOD??

I have joined MN purely to comment on this fascinating discussion. The problem is, advertising just doesn't work with 'influencers' as the whole concept is based on trust. We're over big companies and brands telling us we should buy their products and for a while these Insta people were a welcome relief to this- people we feel like we know, have lives 'just like ours', kids of similar ages etc, surely we can trust them when they endorse a product.

Once the big brands got wind of this and started using it it's destroyed the trust that is so hard to build. It's a conundrum as these people should be able to monetise all the time they spend on insta and the huge following they have- they have equity. But advertising just goes against WHY they got such a following in the first place- that organic trust they built over time.

Brands know how valuable trust is and are trying to short cut their way to it by piggy backing these mums. It's not working.

Leah - mother of daughters and father of daughters

Leeeleeee Welcome to MN

I think you hit the nail on the head! It is a shame though that the retort to this thread was met with such vitriol from some of the bloggers, there are many issues here that should be discussed yet were wiped out with a backlash over the weekend. The defensive seems a position many took.

Thanks Boredboredboredbored! I'm glad I did, I'm actually getting a lot of great info off these boards (I have a 2 yo).

I think the thread did veer into a bit of pettiness for a while but that's the nature of discussion I guess. Now it's more focused it's very interesting :-).

Yes, Leeleeee, that sums it up nicely!

It seems they're all jumping on the bandwagon of mumsnet hate now, a few mums I follow -and will now be unfollowing who weren't even mentioned in this post, have posted about how it's not cool to be bitchy: read have an opinion you don't agree with, followed by a torrent of you guessed it - bitchy comments! Oh the irony. I think it would be interesting to see who lost and gained followers this weekend.
SV Is a Nasty piece of work and obviously only deleted her stories so that her loyal following wouldn't see that side, I used to follow her but not anymore, It seems to me that she only posted to get the response they Pukka received, which was mainly positive because instead of brushing us all off as a bunch of vitriolic bitches (god that name is being thrown all over Insta) she engaged in the conversation and has used it to understand her target market a bit better!
Well done Pukka!
I don't follow Mod or Fod but impressed that they have at least not decided to respond in a way that others have.

As you can see I am not a blogger judging by my terrible punctuation

And fwiw I've been a mumsnet product tester and had lots of freebies over the years, that I have managed to post an unbiased review of and products/books that I've loved have been recommended/passed onto friends - and ones that haven't have gone to charity shops.
I and many other women on these threads are jealous - nobody has been begrudged their lovely products and holidays - just be honest about what was sent/given for free

Sorry that should read aren't jealous