Barya Lang Po Sa Umaga

It has been labeled as the “new media”. Many has claimed it is better and more influential than the traditional media of print, TV and radio. Many companies are now tapping the services of the blogging and social media community to spread information about their products, establishments and services. Some would say it has exceeded the reach of the traditional media and is now more effective in promotions. Indeed social media influence has grown big and powerful, and with every rising medium there would always exist competing groups and a variety of misguided elements that would try to bring each other down so one could claim top level ranking and emerge more influential than the rest.

Whether you’ll admit it or not, each one of us would want our blogs to excel and be part of the top ranking blogs out there. This is especially true for those that have their blogs as their primary source of income, and equally true for those that consider their blog as a business venture.

I would celebrate wholeheartedly if many of the bloggers out there are just blogging for fun, and putting the business or earning perspective only at the side.But I really do not care if its everyone’s bread and butter. My reason for blogging is just to make it a medium where I could express myself, and an excuse to become updated in the outside world.

But why are there bloggers who try to ruin the community by spreading the bogus breaking boos (false news) about each other and the community. What I am doing right  now could be an example, but to differentiate me from the rest out there, I do not really monetize my blog at all. I do not put any form of advertisement except just a few days ago when I got a sponsorship for a domain and hosting, but still that’s all there is to it. I do not put any ads at all, and I would have continued just using it as “scratch post” if I were still writing for a community blog which I left due to “political” and “personal” reasons.

Here are what I perceive as the top five reasons why there are bloggers out there that spread bogus breaking boos:

1. They are threatened of the competition – The rise of new and popular bloggers is a threat for them. Thus they will try to release news disguised as warnings just to bring bad publicity to their competition. They will use their cloud of influence to discourage would be potential clients of these bloggers by coming out with articles that makes some bloggers look bad in the eyes of PRs and their fellow bloggers. This makes them already judgmental without giving the bloggers in their “blind items” an opportunity to defend and explain themselves. Its another case of trial by publicity. Only the weak and sissies use blind items. We should all know that there is always two sides of the coin.

2. They would like to steer away attention from their own despicable acts – They are guilty of wrongdoings themselves so they would like to put the spotlight on somebody else. No community is ever free of controversies and issues. There would always be bad apples. There would always be mistakes and bad decisions. So instead of getting the flak, they would turn the attention of the community to somebody else.

3. They would like to claim their territory – Similar to being threatened of the competition, many would want to remain on top. One way is to be able to keep their clients intact and growing. But the competition is luring away their existing and potential clients so they need to exert all effort just to bring them back and claim their territory to keep their spot as one of the top bloggers of the blogging community. They would say “Keep away!” Stay out of our Territory!”. But the clients know better so they are either losing their previous contacts or sharing the territory with other bloggers.

4. They are doing damage control – To revive their own tarnished image, they would try to put the blame on others. There would always be a “fall guy” who they would sacrifice and would suffer the consequence of their erring ways. It could be the one they consider the least important or the most expendable of the community. We all know that a good leader is one that would take responsibility for the shortcomings of the people under him. It is very disgraceful when you abandon a fallen comrade who fought for you during the time of war just to avoid the stray bullets coming their way. That leader does not deserve any respect from the blogging community.

5. They are pissed off – The best motivation there is. One can’t imagine the extent of the things that one can do if they are personally pissed with a few bloggers. They will go the extra mile just to make sure their enemies break and fall apart. They will gather the sentiments and pity of close friends whom they will deceive to help them do their evil schemes. They will act as if they were the underdogs.

I’m sure there are a lot more other reasons I have not mentioned but I think you all get the idea already.

Each one of us is not perfect. We all have our own little dirty secrets which we try to keep hidden under the rug and hoping no one will bother looking under. I would call you a liar if you will say you have nothing to hide. I would call you a fake if you do not appreciate those adorable little tokens or freebies.

So please do not judge a person from the rumors that you hear. Do not judge a person by just the one time meeting that you had. Do not judge a person from the company of friends he associates himself with. Do not judge a person from the way he talks, walks or dress up.

We all have personal traits that may not be worthy of a praise. We all have erred in one point of our lives. We all have our own choices of friends and whom to hang out with. This is because we are all unique, and each one of us have their own special stories to tell.

If we spread out news that there are rotten bloggers among us, then who’s stopping the other guys from suspecting you may also be part of the unethical community. You are hurting your own kind, thus hurting your own community.  

Unfortunately no one of us have the full power to keep out the bloggers that we despise but we can stand out above and beyond them if we continue to come out with great articles and remarkable long lasting relationships with the PRs and companies we support.

So it all ends up to giving due respect to each other. No one deserves to be treated badly and to be judged unfairly in the eyes of his fellowmen without the benefit of a fair scrutiny. If one is truly guilty of the accusations then it will eventually be noticed and discovered and the infamous law of karma will take its rightful place.

Amen.

 *credits to Google and the respective owners for all the graphics used in this article