Rant: The Fall of the Bloggers in Kuwait

There is something that I’ve been meaning to say, type down really, but for the longest time I’ve kept my fingers back but I think its time I let it out. Not only for ranting purposes you see, rants always wash your soul somehow, but it will also be a kind of documentation, a stop in the social media history of Kuwait if anyone is keeping track. You never know, maybe someone in the future will want to have a study or thesis or something and noting this down will help them out eventually. 

The bubble that is the bloggers habba -i.e. trend- has finally popped. As of late 2013 and early 2014 the domination of the fashionista’s era has begun. Now before you read on please understand that I’m not attacking anyone, I’m just stating the facts as they are. Plus, I personally follow several fashionistas and am always happy to see what they have to offer and am impressed by the effort and handwork they put in their posts, I call a few of them friends and they are the sweetest most down to earth personalities you’d meet, I’m talking about the phenomenon and not attacking a certain fashionista or another.

Fashionistas exist everywhere else in the world and have been since forever but only in Kuwait would a model, a well-dressed chic lady, or a makeup persona be used to advertise each and every single thing, from car tires to food items and even cement and floor tiles. Who cares if the food is good or different? All it takes is a shot of a smiling fashionista with a pointed fork next to a table full of dishes and 20,000 likes and they call it a day.

While good old blogs are now vacant and provide almost zero commercial value, once booming instagram accounts are becoming deserted as well with everyone migrating to Snapchat and buzzing about the latest clownish attitude from their favourite “blogger”, yes blogger because apparently even though social media figures are not bloggers in the first place or in rare cases anymore, they’ve somehow all become “bloggers” somehow.

Now what brought this on? Well, two incidents that happened within two weeks of each other sent my blood pumping. The first was when I met someone who represents a business and they kept going on and on about how they gathered up Kuwait’s “most important bloggers” for ads and how beneficial they were to their business drive and how they were intending to hire them again for round two of advertisement. When I interjected that the people they were talking about weren’t bloggers, they were instagram fashionistas, the difference didn’t seem to matter. Now the interesting thing that happened is, when it become known that I was in fact a blogger myself and I began to take pictures for my own blog and record, I was asked by the very same person to take pictures of this and that and I was asked to share those pictures of mine, and they were pretty darn good pictures, for free. I didn’t share them of course, yet that didn’t stop them taking and using a picture from my own instagram account, without my permission and without a mention to me, those who are willing to pay huge sums of money so fashionistas cloaked in the name of bloggers to pose for one picture and one picture only.

How is that fair?

The same goes for numerous other businesses, ones that have started and received our unshakeable support. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures for them, believed in them and posted about them for free. My pictures are used till this day repeatedly on their accounts and never once have I asked for a one fils. Those businesses have changed direction completely and instead of continuing the mutual good-natured relationship we’ve had, they are now piling money and praise on one single picture of fashionistas while, the irony, still using my pictures and ignoring the once courtesy mention of the picture taker that is me and needless to say never again inviting me to any new event or theirs.

I suppose this is what you get when you post for people for free. People who once made sure you were invited to every single event of theirs no longer take your calls, people who once showered you with praise and thanks are now trying to remember who you are. Oh and let me tell you about the second incident before I put this post to draft, I’m not sure I want to publish it really just wanted to let the steam off.

In the past, lets say, year or so whenever there is an event with old school bloggers and social media figures plus fashionistas present, old bloggers have been feeling a bit left out. At first it began with a welcoming warm smile and you did your blog event thing while fashionistas gathered and took endless pictures of themselves attending the event. Rarely did anyone ask bloggers to join in the picture taking or make a fuss over them as well. Later on the event treatment have developed drastically, fashionistas have been invited to attend and they were paid, and old school bloggers were asked to attend, for free, and are expected to take pictures of the fashionistas, paparazzi style, and pile praise and hail their beauty as well. You’d be lucky if you were greeted in the first place, after all you are lucky to be asked in the first place and you are presented with a golden opportunity to catch a star in action and enrich your unknown social media accounts with it.

You can understand now, dear social media event planners, why a lot of people apologise and do not attend your events anymore. Its not only me who’s been complaining, its almost every single old fashion blogger who would actually post about your event if they’ve attended and not about themselves posing in your event.

Now the last story I swear, are you still reading? So I was invited to attend an event during the holy month of Ramadan. I was planning on going on my own anyway, I can still go places as Nada the person not Danderma the blogger, and as I expected I was ignored totally like a ghost, I didn’t mind that for I was there as Nada anyway. What I did mind though, is when I was standing there an announcement was made where the event organisers announced that they are being joined with “Kuwait’s most influential bloggers” and then a list of names was given out, and not one single person of them was a blogger, not even one!

Of course those non-bloggers who are apparently Kuwait’s most influential bloggers are all social media figures yes, with a good number of followers yes, some are similar to me in follower number and some eons ahead of me, but they are not bloggers. For the love of god they are not bloggers, and how come they were praised and hailed and their presence was made into a celebratory show when I was extended an invitation and ignored? Was the only blogger supposed to report on Kuwait’s non-bloggers attending or something?

I don’t understand this, and I hope I am not coming off as bitter or jealous, but it angers me when the term “blogger” is used as a synonym for anyone who has a social media presence and that’s it. Fashionistas are cool and beautiful and I consider a few of them my own personal friends, I wish them all the best but I really and truly wish they are called fashionistas when they are that. No one is a “micro” blogger or a “mini” blogger… say you are an instagrammer and proud, you are not a skirt so stop with the micro and midi and maxi thing. If you insist on being called a blogger or actually are presenting yourself as one, then at least maintain a blog with a one post a month, I don’t suppose that’s too hard now, is it?

Paid or not, invited or not, showered with gifts or not, it still doesn’t matter. My blog will always be here, I will still take pictures and post about what I love and live and laugh and be happy. I still have people who come up to me out of no where and tell me how much they’ve loved this, tried that, or enjoyed reading about something. However, I will not allow anyone to take pictures off my blog and cut my logo out then post it on their social media accounts without my permission or a mention of myself. I’m sorry but do that and I will have you reported.

Old school bloggers, have you any say in this? What do you think?