Think about it. Most bloggers are not professionals and do not get paid for what they do. Mommy bloggers are blogging about their life. Professionals or consultants or freelancers may blog to promote themselves but in general do not get paid to generate blog content. (This is of course discounting the blogs started by professional news media outlets). Most bloggers write about what they are interested in. Follow them, learn what they are interested in and them give them the facts and resources– they will add their own spin.

Mommy bloggers called for a PR blackout this past summer after feeling the pressure to cover and review products that were sent to them for free. In the challenge they said, “With the allure of giveaways, reviews, and blog trips, Mom Bloggers have turned from what they love the most, their family, into working directly as public relations for their captive audience.”

This came on the heals of the new FTC requirements that bloggers disclose when they are being paid to review products. Fines for violating the new rule could run up to $11,000 per post. You can’t blame them for being a little shy of spin. They are mostly amateurs writing about what interests them. They are not professional journalist schooled in ethical and legal standards.
Sony Electronics recently did a blogger outreach with a personal spin–they targeted tech blogger dads. Instead of simply sending them gear they created the DigiDad project. This project encourages the bloggers to use the products as dads to document a field trip with a camcorder or use Sony’s new dSLR camera to snap family portraits (Brogan, 2009).

When you do something by choice you are less likely to put up with the spin. This demands a new approach from a PR perspective.

Does that make sense?