2chicksblogging.com – Blogging for Change Training since 2008

PR Agency Social Media Chief Talks Blogging, Paid-For Posts – Advertising Age – Digital.

An interesting interview with a mom-blogger who is now Senior VP for consumer brands social media at Edelman in Chicago. She got the job when Edelman noticed her blog , Foodmomiac blog. She discusses how they find and work with bloggers. They don’t do “paid-for posts”:

…we look through the list of bloggers that we know; we ask bloggers we know for recommendations; and we don’t ever work with anyone, or reach out to anyone, until we’ve read back at least three months to get a sense of what that blogger’s like so that we do know that they’re sane, that they’re disclosing, that they are doing things in a way that fits within the ethics of our company and of our clients’ companies.

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• Martha Stewart and Blogger Relations (americapeals.com)

Nobody gave me a new car or a million dollars, but for us bloggers, knowing that anyone is reading our writing, much less the publisher of the 150 year-old local daily, is the affirmation that warms our soul and keeps us writing.

via Blogging for Glory « Daniel Durazo’s Blog.

We at 2chicksblogging.com are *NOT* tax experts, however, we think this issue is overblown and sensationalist. The IRS defines a gift as ““You make a gift if you give property (including money), or the use of or income from property, without expecting to receive something of at least equal value in return.”

We stress that for our blogging clients and bloggers we talk to, that you are not giving anything away. Our whole point is that audience attention, time, and “eyeballs” are all forms of currency, though not not money. When you contribute content as a serious, professional blogger, you are expecting a return of equal or more value than what you contributed. You expect to get a reputation boost, more eyeballs, and subsequent business because of your initial action (creating content for exchange.)

The bottom line: StinkyJournalism.org has uncovered a real hornet’s nest for both for-profit media companies’ business models and citizen journalists who must now examine how much work they have “donated” to any one media outlet over the past year.

via The Unspoken Peril for “Citizen Journalists” Surprise! You Owe the IRS Some Gift Tax!.

We can tailor our “Blogging for Change” content to suit your group and situation. We can do hands-on sessions, or talk your people through the material that is important to you. Some sample workshops:

• a half-day, hands-on session where every participant left with a WordPress blog suited to their needs
• an hour and a half interactive workshop about blogging and how to write for an organization blog