So, the interwebs and blogosphere are abuzz with outrage over the new Martha Stewart interview.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Martha Stewart. I LOVE Martha Stewart Living. (Except- again- that one time it was suggested that I spray paint driftwood and nail it to my mantel and I was all like: No, we will not be doing that.)
But her claim that bloggers aren’t experts because we’re not “trained editors” with the necessary skill set?
COME ON, MARTHA.
I will be the first to publicly admit that I am neither a media mogul nor am I the proud owner of a namesake collection at Macy’s. I don’t have any particular interest in becoming or acquiring either. But make no mistake about it: I am an expert.
I’m kind of a Big Deal authority ’round here on sleep training and potty training. Things that kids will eat, won’t eat, and the stuff that will get crumbled into napkins so don’t even try, lady. Art projects worth framing and sensory activities so ill-advised that my grandkids will be slip-sliding through all of this floor glitter. Stuff to do, when to do it, and- barring all else- anecdotes so funny that people pee through their spit-up covered yoga pants.
Me, expertly feeding sugar to my kid. (From a shared recipe. Which was awesome.)
Bloggers don’t need editors to to validate whether or not a recipe is “good,” they simply need a reader or thirty retweeting its awesomeness or commenting CEASE AND DESIST WITH THE QUINOA, IT’S BREAKING MY SOUL.
Bloggers are the modern day grapevine over the back fence, the coffee klatch 4-1-1 on who’s doing what with whom, and the quickest authority on how to implement next season’s It colors. (Nostalgic pastels paired with fiery bold, obvie.)
Bloggers don’t hold back, nor do more than the upper echelon worry about offending and/or losing major corporate sponsors. A goodly bunch of them make their bread and butter by having and inspiring honest conversations about products, vacation spots, and the stuff we’re reading during our day to day, outwardly amateurish lives. Without that no-holds barred kinda approach to our very real skills sets, we’d basically be…a corporately owned magazine. Right?
Bottom line: there are plenty of trendsetting bloggers redefining consumerism and social media- as well as tons of navel-gazing drivelmongers taking up some very good WordPress real estate. But guess what? For every Martha Stewart Living, there’s a Star Magazine. So let’s not be so quick to lump everyone into one noisy, self-indulgent stew, yeah? In this day and age of reality “stars” designing clothing and girlfriends of athletes recording one-hit wonders, who’s to say anymore what defines an “expert” and who just has the best P.R. contract?
Besides, if blogging is such a blight on the landscape of professional journalism…
…Why are so many blogs featured on Martha Stewart Living’s very own homepage? (Including her own?)
Social media awareness. It’s a good thing.
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