Drama-sphere in the Blogosphere
On a related note to my last post, there’s been a ton of drama circulating as a result of this article about Style Coalition in The New York Observer. Gawker weighed in on the story referring to Style Coalition as a “kiss-up guild” for fashion bloggers. I’ll admit, the Observer piece left a bad taste in my mouth too, but after meeting Yuli and her colleagues in person, I think the article misrepresented what they are trying to accomplish.
Photo Credit: thee most exalted potentate love (via Flickr)
More drama resulting from the article – Daniel Saynt of Fashion Indie was ridiculed for the honesty he portrays on his site, which received over a million hits last month. Needless to say, he has a huge audience and is obviously doing something right. He’s now filing a lawsuit against the Observer for the false allegations made in the story which led to Fashion Indie being uninvited and/or blacklisted to NYFW shows and the cancellation of Fashion Indie Week.
My humble, but honest POV…
- I love Daniel’s voice and don’t blame him for fighting back given the negative impact Fashion Indie has suffered as a result of the article. However, the lawsuit seems a bit unnecessary, especially since this whole mess will probably boost his already loyal readership.
- To Gawker’s point, any blogger who is willing to become a sell-out might want to rethink why they started to begin with – the less credible you appear, the more your site will have the effect of an advertisement to your readers.
- As for Yuli, Mike and Jean – I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised when arriving to their Digital Moda event (working on a post with photos). It seemed obvious to me they’re trying to show designers the increasing influence of online media and the benefits of building relationships with bloggers. My alter ego as a PR specialist can vouch for the fact that a lot of companies are talking “social media,” but many are still trying to grasp the how and the why.
- I’m an active member of Independent Fashion Bloggers and value it as a resource to help fashion blogs grow regardless of what level they’re at. I actually wrote a contributed piece last week about working with PR which kind of ties in to the topic of this post. Though I try to stay away from burning any bridges, I also believe voice is extremely important for independent blogs – it’s the edge we have on corporate operated blogs.
Vyque at Fasshonaburu also weighed in on this. Check out her post here!
GREAT ARTICLE! Well-written, interesting, and very informative to blogger newbies. Thank you for both of your recent articles about the PR aspect of fashion blogging because the whole relationship has been very confusing to me…Love the blog!
Hello Kelli – Thanks so much for your comment and I’m glad my recent articles have helped provide useful info to new bloggers!
Wow. I just read the articles & there’s soo much drama & allegations. Who would’ve known blogging could’ve been somewhat of a dangerous thing?
So much drama! In reality, all of the drama and the continuation of the drama just divides the community even more. I think that it shows how out of touch that mainstream/traditional media is, how its continuing to discredit itself by its shallow and futile attempts at reporting.
I personally think the sniping back and forth in the comments of both articles gives bloggers a worse name than anything in the articles. Personal attacks and immature accusations don’t seem like the best way to earn respect in general.
Daniel misrepresents himself and Fashion Indie to a wide extreme. I’d be more than happy to back this up with facts and data in private.
Yikes! Is this really still going on? I thought it would have been hatched up for sure in NY. Keep us updated Jordana…
Jei – No kidding!
Ashe – I completely 100% agree! Boo traditional media…except the ones who try to get us.
Alyssa – Good point. There’s a way to maintain your voice while still taking a professional (but informal) approach to blogging.
Sarah – Thanks! I would love to hear more…will email you. I might even consider editing this post once I have more background.
Sara – Haha, yeah…it’s dragging on…still.
thanks for this article.. honestly, after meeting everyone too i felt that the entity hurt the most by this was the observer for printing inaccurate information about a few blogs… and they say bloggers don’t fact check.