Whether they call themselves influencers, product reviewers or journalists, a University of Regina journalism professor says most bloggers create online content that is basically advertising.
“I think this is one of the new perils of cyberspace: the stealth advertising that lurks online but is not labelled as advertising,” said Mitch Diamantopoulos, head of the school of journalism at the U of R.
“It’s not just the problem of mommy bloggers,” he said.
“There’s also the whole question of who are these people and whose interest do they represent. I think it’s a really serious issue.”
Read Also
Farm equipment dealership chain expands
This summer, AgWest announced it was building two new dealership buildings in Manitoba to better service its expanding market area — one in Brandon and the other in Russell.
Many bloggers, including mom bloggers, disclose on their website that they do accept sponsorship and other forms of compensation, such as free trips, for reviewing a particular product.
Regardless, most readers don’t look at disclosure statements and many internet users switch off their critical thinking skills when they turn on the computer, Diamantopoulos said.
“I think we often go online as lambs to the slaughter, expecting everything has been proofed and has been checked. Of course, it hasn’t,” he said.
“I think there is a big gap there, in preparing people to read between the lines, to check who are the sources or sponsors (behind a website). Sometimes there are very careful efforts to conceal the sponsors.”
Diamantopoulos said the larger issue is the corruption and devolution of the internet. The worldwide web was once a democratic domain for sharing information, but now it seems like corporate and political interests are trying to control social media.
“Sponsored bloggers are putting all kinds of promotional messages out there that are masquerading as neutral information. It’s not neutral information,” he said.
“Commercial interests are turning something, which a lot of us hoped would be a democratic forum for free speech, and turning it into kind of a shopping mall.”
