Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

continuing the discussion from the previous thread about transparency and disclosure (or lack of) by bloggers

....... should add to that the dismay I see when I see an Instagrammer dressed head to foot in red #gifted. I really don't believe that they are not aware of the message that sends ordinary people. We are adults and, to a certain extent, can see through the message it sends but I worry that people are sending my children the same message in a different form. Conform, be like me ........ or be different, less, inadequate. Scary.

I doubt whether Bobbi Brown would penalise AB. From their perspective they have done what they need to to comply with the FTC rules, and if the blogger doesn't disclose the gift I guess they can shrug their shoulders and say "well, we tried" (and enjoy the exposure she has given them). I think ED generally just has more integrity - but it must be a bit frustrating for bloggers to see a lot of their peers not playing it as straight as them.

I left MN a few years ago because I found myself being sucked into arguing the toss about issues I didn't really care about and I found that to be an unhealthy way to spend my time. I only rejoined because I heard about the first bloggers thread and realised that there were other people saying what I had been thinking for a while about IG, and it has been a really good experience to have my suspicions about the breadth of advertising on IG confirmed, and to discuss and learn about the issues on this thread in real depth.

I've found with all forms of social media (FB, IG and Twitter) that I use, I go through periods of being completely addicted to them and having to wean myself off them. It disturbs me how attached I can get to them, as I don't have a very addictive personality in general. I dread to think what it must be like for people who earn a living off these platforms.

Maybe I worry so much because my children are young adults and they/we witness SM at work. I wonder how these influencers will feel when it is their children being relentlessly sold to, dictated to, being made to feel inferior.... it is a scary world.

I worry too as my son is 11 so just starting to become exposed to SM via his first mobile phone. Some of the people in his class have IG accounts already . He had a Skype account briefly for gaming conversations with his mates but I checked it shortly after he got it and their chat group had degenerated into stupid rows so I deleted the app. I speak to him about why mobile phones are not healthy but I know I'm a huge hypocrite and set a bad example because I check mine far more often than I should.

Mine are 18 and 15. I have always believed that we have to work with what exists rather than make it a forbidden fruit so we talk about it, not forbid it. My elder son has scary stories of his female classmates and their forays into into Insta........ I know that our message is being heard so am fully expecting to hear Insta stories of how real/tortured/relevant their lives are #yawn

I don't think insta is that popular with the very young (Snapchat and whatever new is lurking around the corner), but having a 'finsta' (fake Instagram) is a big thing, especially among young women. I never have quite made out whether they're for fun/embarrassing pics or for sexually provocative ones or both, but in essence it's a secret account only accessible to a close group of friends that's somewhat removed from the general insta aesthetic.

I'm somewhat surprised there isn't an ongoing support thread on MN for SM weaning, although MN being somewhat of a social platform may work against that. Anyhow, on the 8th a new book will be released about re-establishing your relationship with your smartphone, it's based on science rather than your run of the mill self help book pseudoscience. Perhaps of interest to some:

review by Sali Hughes here

Hmm, I have 8 nieces between the ages of 15 and 26 and Insta is his they "share". Despair at the lack of dialogue and the heavy reliance of the photogenic and the aspirational.

ffs his how, of on

I could have written that Sali Hughes article! Now that is a book I would be interested in pre ordering. Thank you for the link!

Interesting article about Instagram, worrying times for our children and the far from real world influencers make life out to be
time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/

bo Instagram is widely used by kids, mine and all their friends have used it since yr 6 (private profiles), and now they're at high school, it is how the communicate. They use the messaging and stories a lot and you can quickly paste photos into the messaging without it appearing on the feed, also images that disappears once it has been opened (so the, ahem, parent who may be policing their use, can't see the photo once it's been opened).

I read that Sali Hughes post last week Bo and found it interesting. I implemented one of her changes - I got rid of all apps I rarely use, and put the rest in folders according to type. I've had most notifications turned off for some time. It does help, not seeing the bright icons on the home screen. I'm trying to use my phone less. Much of my phone use is around fitness. I have Strava and Garmin and a couple of HIIT apps, a Seconds timer which is brilliant. I also use it for online banking. I have a tablet, but only on wi-fi and I've deleted all the apps other than news/reading type ones so that I read more. What I did realise was that I could read great books more if I cut down on pointless browsing and scrolling.

I don't often feel FOMO re Instagram. In fact I find that more on FB, which I have pretty much stopped using. Much of this stems from people I know IRL who have big extended families, because my family is disfunctional and no longer in my life (my choice), and my DH's family is just plain odd, so it's just the 4 of us mostly. At xmas and other times it can be pretty overwhelming seeing big family gatherings (I know all families have their issues, but again it's the aspirational, this is our big happy family all around the table for xmas posts that would get to me, because of course people don't post about the arguments and annoyances). I'm happy for them that they have these families, but it's not something I need to see on a daily basis.

So, I actually find IG a more positive place. I think much of it depends on who you follow doesn't it? I am not into fashion, or make up. As a 48 year old I'm less interested in lifestyle/fashion type bloggers. I've said before, for me it's about fitness, and specifically mostly about people who haven't always been into their health as I find that motivating. Two years ago I got fit after having some surgery on my spine. I guess they echo my own experience and I find it interesting.

I am pretty mininamlist. I only have about 90 friends on FB, and I follow 91 on IG. I don't follow anyone who annoys me lol. Ironically since reading this thread I looked at some of these bloggers and started following some, just out of shock really ("OMG, how cheesy?" sort of a thing). But then I got a grip and unfollowed them.

What I find interesting is my two boys' attitudes to SM. The eldest is 15 and never been into it. He has had it for a couple of years and uses it to keep in touch with friends, but really can't be bothered with it. My younger son is 13 and has the potential to be affected more by it. But I am very lucky in that he talks to me about it and I've used it as a learning opportunity and he's not so bothered by it now. He is generally less resilient than his older brother, and I want to give him tools to help him through life. Whilst it has been banned at times, mostly I've wanted to not avoid the issues, but rather help him through them. He's far less into it now as a result.

I know they 'use' insta but it appears to be more of a public profile that everyone has access too. A bit like Facebook for my generation was, it's where you post the nicest bits so your gran can coo over it and share it out instead of going round for a visit. They seem to primarily interact with their peers in encrypted apps thinking, falsely, that affords them privacy and security. YouTube vloggers seem to be the most direct with their influence IME, followed by Snapchat.

Two interesting articles in the Guardian today:

Look at me: why attention-seeking is the defining need of our times

I deleted WhatsApp for a year and here's what I learned

Coincidentally, I deleted WhatsApp about a year and a half a go, was one of the best decisions I ever made. As that article points out, rightly, it is more difficult than others as it it's often the only medium to know about certain things but I found it far too invasive and demanding of me and my time. It's something about text speak that dehumanises us.

Out of interest, do many people still use phones (landline), as in to actually speak to people?

From my experience, the girls use IG a lot more than the boys, in terms of actually posting pictures. Often it's all about cleavages/pouting, and the boys went through a stage of posting black and white photos of their jawbones which seemed to be the male equivalent. It seems to be that they do use it a lot when they first get it, but that tails off by mid teens.

I've never had a landline, cell phone from early teens, I think I was 12 or 13. Never saw the use of a landline subsequently. Only ever called then as texts were really expensive and used the family landline for endlessly long teenage conversations.

Calling on phone (non landline) has become less in recent years, despite nearly everyone I know has an unlimited contract. Personal emails also really scarce these days. I see it as a general shift of one on one conversation to announcing to a group of people under the guise of efficiency.

What's also changed, I'm a bit like your oldest, Pupsie, just never been into SM, that used to elicit a bemused or even outraged response then it became more of a 'isn't she smug' thing and these days it's something people seem to highly admire. That's the worrying thing to me, people are aware of what it's costing them (SH paints that quite well in her article) but can't seem to detach either.

Bo, we never use our landline. We only really have one in case of emergencies as a bit more reliable and than mobiles, although in new house the signal is decent enough, but we are all with the same provider.

I actually hate speaking on the phone. I think it's from being forced to call relatives on my bday when I was really young to thank them for birthday/xmas money, X3 sets. I used to dread it. Would much rather have sent a card.

I know you're interested in skincare and fashion etc Bo. Where do you get your inputs from? Magazines? Online material?

My son regards landlines and email in the same way I used to view 78 rpms. However I've warned him he could be in for a shock when he starts work because, at least in my sector/part of the world, 'old school' communication is still standard.

Social media expertise is all very well but, in my workplace at least, those accounts are tightly controlled with just a couple of people having access. Everyone however has to be capable of answering the landline without always knowing who's on the other end and dealing with it, even if it's only taking a message. You have professional conversations over the phone and you're expected to read and deal with emails. Of course in another 5 or 10 years it might be very different but this is the here and now and and it's very noticeable that a lot of young workers just aren't equipped for it.

Agreed Flo. My eldest had to write off for work experience in September just gone. He'd actually never written a formal email before. Barely written an informal one.

Just read the Guardian attention-seeking article. Very interesting. I am always interested in the comments section where people actually interact and respond to other people's musing. Not always, or even often polite - but certainly an exchange. So very different to Insta world where there is practically no interaction.

From a piece in the Telegraph entitled "How To Run A Successful Cosmetics Business". Very naive.

I used to have the odd bit of phone anxiety too but it evaporated pretty quickly in working life. It's still the way to get things done the quickest and without delay. email correspondence can be shocking, and I still can't get used to overfamiliarity in written form, online customer services are the worst for this IME.

Pupsie, everywhere basically, Google is my friend, I have strong associative mechanisms so once I go off on a tangent I can quite easily get lost and that allows me to connect it back to previous gathered information. It's a touch rhizomatic, I suppose. I do like an independent magazine for the more thoughtful stuff and I do still have an RSS reader (now in feedly) that pulls from a variety of sources (mostly for work but since it's a creative field that's quite a wide pool and it's a similar one to fashion).

Flea, I hardly dare look BTL in most places. Since the Brexit vote, I only dare look BTL under SH's column and the inspect a gadget one on the Guardian. Although the discussions under nutritional pieces can be interesting, they ran a rather bollocks one about the benefits of fermentation and gut health a week or so ago in the lifestyle section that looked more at home on a nutribollocks blog as it was filled with terrible advice from unqualified people, yet delivered with a certainty they didn't have. The BTL rightfully called out a lot of misinformation and linked proper scientific journal articles to sort fact from fiction.

Blimey see Icons is doing another friends in the dressing up box session for dressing for your body shape. Doubt any of them are more than a size 12!! Apparently Laura is "busty"!!

I saw that WipsGlitter - how on earth does LF think she’s “busty”? Try being 28H there’s no way you’d be tucking a jumper in!

WItblog has always described herself as busty which has been a mystery to me, although I did read something a while back where she said she uses sports bras to flatten her chest

Although I’ve seen plenty of her swimsuit shots and still don’t think she’s busty!