Blogging Not Freeloading ft. Joel Wong

Some fairy-tales ago, Joel sent me an e-mail asking me if I would like to collaborate on a post. Without second thoughts, I said yes. And then he slipped that diamond ring into my finger and promised to take good care of me for as long as I lived. Together, we rode into the sunset knowing that we’re still a better love story than Twilight.

Wait, whut?

I must’ve been drinking again without even realising it. My bad. *hic*
Alright, in all seriousness, Joel was a senior of mine in high-school. Hence, we find each other’s style of writing to be somewhat attractive and impressive. Yeah, we were pretty much trained to write like a sir back then in school, true story. Therefore, the whole idea of collaborating with each other.

As to how our collaboration works, we’ll appear on each other’s blog as guest-blogger opining on one common topic. And for this very first collabo, we’ve decided to talk on the people’s perception of bloggers as a bunch of freeloaders. Well, without further ado, bring it on, Joel.

Blogging, Not Freeloading
by Joel Wong of www.leonhart90.blogspot.com

Yesterday night, my brother came into my room as I was thinking of a topic to write about. His first reaction was to hit me (cos that's how my brother rolls). And then he looked at my empty Create New Post page and laughed.

'Watcha doing? Blogging? More like, freeloading, am I right?' he laughed.

'No. Blogging is not freeloading. Blogging is an ar-'

'You freeloaders really know how to enjoy life. This event, that event and everything also get free. Pffffft. Bunch of freeloaders.'

I don't know what happened to my brother after that fateful night, but I'd suggest you not check inside the freezer.

I'm kinda mad at how people perceive us bloggers. They see us as these freeloaders who only know how to get free food, free movie screenings, free events, free goodie bags etc. Well, newsflash. We're not freeloaders.

Do you realize that blogging is actually hard work as well? You think that we go for events and food tasting sessions and movie screenings without having to give something in return? Well, you thought wrong. Like the saying goes, there's no free lunch in the world (except if someone is treating you, but that's another unrelated story). Likewise, we bloggers have to give something in return for what we receive from these events.

What do we have to give you ask? Well, we have to cut up a pound of our flesh (properly weighed with a standard issue Blogger Pound-of-Flesh weighing machine) and sacrifice it to Cthulhu. What else? We're bloggers! We blog about the event/product/. That's what our blogs are here for. Really, any more of these #abuden questions and I'll really have to print out a 'You Don't Say' mask and paste it on my face.

Contrary to popular belief, bloggers aren't sitting at home all the time in their underwear, drinking copious amounts of Mountain Dew and ranting on their blogs.We're actually quite adventurous. Here's a picture of SixthSeal, one of Malaysia's foremost bloggers, trying what is known as sup torpedo.

[Spoiler: it's the reproductive organ of a cow.]

And here is KYspeaks, a popular food blogger, eating insects and enjoying every bite of it.

[Omnomnom!]

Still think bloggers are nerds?

Do you know why bloggers are invited to events? We're helping to spread the word about that particular product. For example, an awesomely new, delicious, all you can eat for free restaurant just opened somewhere in PJ. You don't know about this restaurant because a) it's new and b) it just freaking opened. What do you do then? Read the newspapers? Well, they'll take about a month before the article and review is posted up. Word of mouth? How many mouths must the word pass through before you realize the existence of this restaurant? Let's just say, a lot. Twitter and other social media? We practically live there.

This is where bloggers will step in. I'm not saying that we'll pick up on the restaurant immediately, but if we do get invited, you can be sure that we'll blog about it. We want to share this new restaurant with everyone who reads our blog. We just want to get the information out.

And believe me, most of us really put in the effort to write a good review just so people can know about the existence of the restaurant.

So before you judge us bloggers as being freeloaders, please just stop and think about it for a bit. Most of us are following a passion, a hobby. We're not blogging for the sake of the events, or the free stuff. We're blogging because we genuinely enjoy it. Don't be so quick to label us as freeloaders when we're just doing what we love. The free stuff? Well, those are the perks which come with blogging.

Now if you'd excuse me, my freezer is beginning to smell.

Cheerios!

-End-

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Joel Wong! And oh, don’t forget to check out my take on this issue on his blog - www.leonhart90.blogspot.com. Now if you would excuse me, I need some ice for my juice. Hmm, where’s that damned freezer?

Have any topics/issues/scandals in mind that you wish to see both Joel and myself lambasting on? Don’t hesitate to drop a comment down here or simply send an e-mail to im (at) vincephilosophy.com.

Tweet