Trusted Mom or Sellout?

That becomes problematic when the bloggers accepting the money for reviews, the paid trips, and the free products write favorable posts without disclosing that they've been compensated. So unsuspecting readers—ones who come looking for a blogger's personal opinion—are getting what amounts to an ad. For companies and marketers, paying for a post also puts a certain amount of power over content—intentional or not—in their hands.

That commercial divide is pitting women against one another. It's no all-out virtual mommy war, but several prominent bloggers have written posts ripping into this new, brand-conscious breed. Erin Kotecki Vest, of Queen of Spain, called them "carpetbagging mommy bloggers" who peddle their "snake oil" whenever and wherever they like. Lindsay Ferrier, of Suburban Turmoil, posted, "I no longer believe that mommy blogging is a radical act. It is a commercial act."

However anyone cuts it, Christine Young, of FromDatestoDiapers.com, thinks her time is worth a few bucks. She's parlayed her online success into consulting work for companies like Johnson & Johnson and other writing assignments. She also charges to do giveaways on her site. Right now, Young doesn't have a monetary charge for product reviews, but she does request a sample, although that does not guarantee she will write about it. Her policy is to be very transparent about the process to her readers.

That works out nicely, since the Federal Trade Commission recently announced it is considering new guidelines so that bloggers will have to disclose in their post when they are paid by an advertiser to talk about a product. While some bloggers are already calling this "Big Brother–like," Bradley disagrees. "Some feel like the mommy blogger per se is being targeted in all of this, but I think they're being protected," she says. "There are people who aren't that savvy, and they're going to write that kind of stuff and their credibility will get destroyed."

Earlier this week, the bloggers of Momdot upped the ante by challenging the mommysphere to join them in a PR Blackout for one week in August in the hope of getting writers back to basics.That's not to say that the paid-to-post strain of mommy blogger will go away. Wiley says, if anything, new rules will create more segmentation. There will be a place for more traditional mommy bloggers as well as for bloggers who do paid content or other forms of advertorials. "I think right now all the mom bloggers are being placed in one category and it's having a negative effect," she says.

That will change. And while no one can really tame the blogosphere, tossing in ethics-laden guidelines is probably necessary. Some might even say radical.

© 2009