Blogging often seems cool because many blogs make and save lots of money. Famous bloggers get lots of free stuff from various businesses and write reviews of the sponsored products. However, some bloggers abuse their power as bloggers. It has become a big issue in Korea, and lots of Koreans no longer believe in bloggers.
Koreans made a word ‘blogger-ji’ which is a new compound word made up of blogger and geoji (beggar in Korean). Blogger-jis are well-known for getting freebies from cafés, restaurants and other businesses by offering favorable reviews on their blogs or even by threatening to write negative reviews.
Due to this selfishness of some bloggers, there have been already several libel suits between bloggers and businesses in Korea.
According to Hong Seok-chun, a TV personality who owns numerous restaurants in Itaewon, central Seoul, some bloggers asked him for money for writing favorable reviews but he turned them down. Then they began to write scathing reviews of my restaurants. His restaurants are already popular so he did not have to spend money on more advertising. That’s why he nicely refused the offer.
Blogger-ji also refers to bloggers who are paid for reviews. Since bloggers can make money out of their own blog, some blogs are going to a wrong direction. For example, Korean blogs have lots of advertising which look like bloggers’ own posts. Because of this, it has become difficult for readers to find reliable information, and bloggers are losing credibility. Even famous American blogs have so many banner ads that I get lost from the first page of their blogs and feel like I am not on a trustworthy blog.
It is nice to make money by posting something truly beneficial to readers, and it is a big temptation. However, reckless advertisement will eventually destroy the relationship between bloggers and subscribers.
In my opinion, every blog should be honest to the bloggers themselves first. If it is dishonest to themselves, those blogs already lost the reason why they exist.
XOXO,
Yoni
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