owlolive

Everything that matters to me (and maybe you as well)

Archive for the tag “blogosphere”

11 Feb 2013
4 Comments

The Blogosphere Marketplace (Of A Different Kind)

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So, yesterday, as some of you may or may not have noticed I got into something of a heated debate with fellow blogger Jacqui of Couch Avenue concerning the post I made about the complete and unquestionable racism which some Kuwaitis display by thinking that they, somehow, are superior to others due to their racial, a9eel lineage.

Or, rather, we debated my right, as an explicitly non-Kuwaiti blogger, to point out this racism (which we both agree on).

I was honestly very deeply disturbed (and a little hurt) by the words that were used against me, basically telling me that I should censor my thoughts and my experiences and my complete right to share them for the sole reason of the fact that I am not Kuwaiti. I was told that ‘if I didn’t like Kuwait’ (something that I have never said or even hinted at) that I should leave. That I will, no matter what, never really belong in Kuwait and that I am, regardless of how much care and devotion I put into Kuwait or even the blogosphere, but a mere visitor. I’ve always been very careful to verify my words as much as I can with some kind of prior evidence, to show that I’m not speaking from a place of hate or ignorance but a place of concern and foresight. Unfortunately, for Jacqui, despite my best efforts to prove the contrary, I still “know nothing.” All the while Jacqui, with all due respect, does not know me well at all and has no idea what I “know” and don’t “know.” But I’m assuming that wasn’t really her point behind that argument: my guess is she said that as a way of polarizing me and other non-Kuwaitis. As a way of saying that no matter how valid your points may be, expat, you and your voice simply don’t matter as much when it comes to the real issues in Kuwait. (Jacqui is always more than welcome to correct me and my assumption.)

Of course, I don’t believe or agree with any of the things that were said to me because I know that I have never had a malicious intent in any of the blog posts that I’ve made about Kuwait or anything else. I know that plenty of Kuwaiti people support and recognize everyone’s right and responsibility–expat or citizen–to comment, discuss, criticize and help weed out the bad so that we can all focus on making Kuwait good (and I really thank those of you who have reached out to me to say so). This post isn’t really about my discussion with Jacqui–it really isn’t. I’m only using it as an example of something else and something I actually want to see more of (kinda).

Y’see as disturbed as I was by Jacqui’s comments, I also have to say that I was really quite refreshed by them as well. And I mean that genuinely and without a shred of my regular, italicized sarcasm (I swear!).

Because, the reality is that the Kuwaiti blogosphere would be so much better off if it nurtured a marketplace of ideas and opinions which are freely exposed and shared without any barriers or preconceived notions of what bloggers “can” and “should” talk about. Where we can speak our minds freely about any topic we choose and discuss how, in the end, we all may see it differently or from different perspectives. I want the blogosphere to be a place where we don’t have to stoop to passive aggressiveness where we mention things vaguely and ironically, or where we even start to discuss specific blogger’s antics with everyone except the specific blogger. These things have happened to me personally in the short time that I’ve been a blogger and I was basically just told “Oh, that’s just bloggers.”

But nope. Sorry. I don’t accept that. Because I respect the Kuwaiti blogosphere and I respect its members even the ones that, in many cases, I am diametrically opposed to. And making the blogosphere seem like a society of specific ‘clubs’ and fake niceties is not respect.

What Jacqui did was respect.

By publicly and directly coming to me and voicing her opinions about me, my blog, and everything else that entails, on a certain level, she respected me as a fellow blogger who shares her blogosphere as she does mine. Even when I am completely and utterly against almost everything she stated against me and at me (like the insults of calling me an inferior brained joke, for one), I still respect Jacqui.

I respect her because, unlike a few unfortunate others (who, by the way, I truly have nothing against and still happily greet when I see them and follow them on all the social networks), she came up to me and said “Owlolive, I think you’re wrong” and, in doing so, she gave me the opportunity to say “no, Jacqui, I think you’re wrong.” And in that way we can actually share different ideas and opinions, and engage in a dialog that will help the blogosphere generally and this blog specifically grow and become more diverse in its content and points of reference. We don’t need to cloister ourselves in ‘groups’ and breed this passive aggressive poison in which every passing “dear” is filled with Mean Girls type hostility. We don’t need to start ‘blogger wars’ and purposefully set out to say hurtful things to one another instead of calmly and directly speaking our minds. I have never started such a ‘blogger war’ with any of my fellow bloggers nor am I planning to ever do so.

I hope Jacqui and every other person who ever decides to comment on the blog (both here or elsewhere) knows that even when they tell me things like, “Owlolive, I think you’re wrong,” that I will always fight for their right to say that both on Owlolive.com and anywhere else (however, they have about zero right to insult me personally and baselessly). I will celebrate the right of people to disagree with me and criticize me directly and explicitly because that’s how my blog and the Kuwaiti blogosphere along with it grows. That’s how any society and culture and pretty much every human construct since the beginning of time has ever grown.

That’s how we breed a marketplace of different ideas and how we get to truth and understanding between one another as a blogging community and as a group of people who are, at the end of the day, just trying to do our best to make Kuwait better.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , ,
04 Sep 2012
21 Comments

So Some Kuwait Blogs May Suck, But Let’s Not Get Carried Away Here.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit it: Kuwait’s blogosphere is, to put it mildly, seriously lacking. In the last few years there has been a massive upsurge of people taking to WordPress or Blogspot in Kuwait and, unfortunately, tainting the blogosphere with their beyond annoying and money-hungry blogging practices.

From the established, big-time bloggers to the up and coming yearlings, the Kuwaiti blogosphere could undoubtedly stand to lose a good number of these needlessly wasteful blogs. Because the truth is that, to a great extent, a whole lot of blogs in Kuwait suck.

Now, you guys know I’ve never shied away from pointing out some mass discrepancies or flaws of which the blogosphere suffers. The number of problems have spiraled out of hand and have snowballed into a collective lack of ethics, originality, and purpose. I don’t have the experience nor the drive required to try and tackle this monstrously growing issue.

But I will admit that, even if you can’t fix the problem, it sure doesn’t hurt to vent about it. In fact, it can only help.

When you expose a problem in the blogosphere, whether specific or general, you have immense potential. You can inform both bloggers and readers of some harmful practices they might not notice otherwise; you can call out certain bloggers for their deliberate wrongdoing or exploitation on their respective blogs; you can help re-define the parameters of what it truly means to be a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ blogger.

Now, to do all these things requires a few gulping spoonfuls of the age-old, tough love medicine: criticism. Preferably constructive criticism (that which also provides a solution to the problem), but criticism nonetheless.

If someone is trying to scam people out of their money, they deserve to be called a con-artist. If someone is using words that aren’t theirs without mentioning a source, they deserve to be called a plagiarist. If someone is being obnoxious and rude, well, they deserve to be called an absolute twat.

Point is, if someone deserves to get called out for something they’ve done then there is no reason they shouldn’t get what’s coming to them. This is a statement which I will never take back. If you did the crime, you deserve the time. No exceptions.

Now, if you’ve read on this far and if you follow the Kuwaiti blogosphere you probably already know what I’m kind of hinting at here. That’s right, a particularly new blog on the block (which goes by the oh so subtle name of Kuwait Blogs Suck) seems to be stirring up a whole lot of drama as of late.

People either absolutely love this blog for its ballsy stance against some of the annoying and harmful habits in which some of Kuwait’s biggest blogging names partake, or they completely hate it for its less than diplomatic and, on a number of occasions, full-on insulting commentary on the bloggers’ personal choices on things like web design or on some writing mishaps.

As is usually the way, I’m going to play Switzerland in this scenario.

I honestly believe there is a real need for critical assessment of Kuwait’s blogosphere and I think that the person who can do that efficiently and can make people more aware of what constitutes a quality blog from a sham blog is definitely a very smart and commendable person. In the times that I have noticed Kuwait Blogs Suck make these kinds of useful, critical assessments on Kuwaiti bloggers I have mostly nodded to myself in happy agreement.

But whenever I was compelled to join the comment section and give Kuwait Blogs Suck a figurative pat on the back for exposing and criticizing key problems (even half-crimes) which some bloggers are fully partaking in, I would find myself holding back.

That’s because I’ll see another post in which Kuwait Blogs Suck completely eviscerates another blogger for using a header or a blog design which Kuwait Blogs Suck personally doesn’t like. Or I’ll see her throw in an insult to a blogger’s intelligence or their lifestyle within her ‘criticism.’ Or I’ll see her needlessly and tastelessly ‘trolling’ (publicly harassing or fooling) a blogger.

And, upon seeing these things, I just don’t know anymore. I mean, with a name like Kuwait Blogs Suck it’d be very easy to assume that this is a blog which is nearly begging people to pay attention to it and is pretty much baiting its readers for angry, negative responses. And then seeing these little insulting, personal jabs here and there reaffirms this assumption.

But then I read a post which Kuwait Blogs Suck made on behalf of the brilliantly verbose Caesar Fernandes of Kuwait Music fame and I’ve begun having a change of heart. The post was about the horribly worsening state of Kuwait’s blogosphere transforming from a portal of personal, local expression to a group of corporate-leeching zombies.

So I’m going to give Kuwait Blogs Suck the benefit of the doubt and assume that she’s really trying to do something good while unwittingly stepping into some critically questionable areas herself.

My final verdict on it is this: Sure, some Kuwait blogs may absolutely and totally suck. But let’s not get carried away with the trolling, insulting, hate-mongering comments that are based purely on personal taste. Let’s just stick to looking at content and all the other practices that come with the whole blogging shebang.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , , ,
05 Aug 2012
8 Comments

The Blogger As Writer As Critic As Celebrity (As Delusional Diva)

I’ve been very fortunate to have gained a faithful and respectable number of awesome readers for this tiny blog over the few short months that its been up and running. I am both honored and delighted to see so many people take an interest in what I have to say, and I am honestly having the best time getting to know everyone who has crossed my path because of this blog.

When I first got into the blogging thing, it was never because I cared about getting popular or reaping the material benefits that come with being a successful blogger. This is the truth.

Sure, its nice being able to attend cool, exclusive events and meet people I wouldn’t normally get to meet, but that has never clouded my perception of the fact that, at the end of the day, I’m pretty much an ordinary human being just like most people on this planet.

Sometimes, I like attention. Sometimes, all I want to do is live in a fall-out shelter for the rest of my life. Sometimes, I think I’m doing something special. Sometimes, I think this blog is about as interesting and unique as watching paint dry.

When you’re a blogger you get a taste of both basking in the glow of attention and needing some serious isolation; moments where you think your words are the elixir to all of society’s woes and moments where you just trudge along making posts that are just there to fill some space.

That’s totally fine and absolutely normal.

As bloggers we’re supposed to use our distinct writing voice to set us apart from the pack and familiarize ourselves with our readers. This makes us writers. The more loyal readers we accumulate the more pull we start to have with businesses, companies, and society as a whole and our voice can be used as a kind of public opinion shifter. This makes us critics. When we combine the growing audience with the larger social pull we become both loved and sought after. This makes us celebrities.

Ideally, most bloggers want to reach that final level of blog stardom in which they can both rely on the support of the fans that have been behind them from day one and relish in the glitz and glamour that comes with being someone everyone wants to impress. For a blogger to get to this point requires lots of hard work and patience. Getting there (or wanting to get there) is nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, I’d say its something to aspire to.

But, if you are blogger (or if you’re thinking of becoming one) please take this short and humble word to heart: Careful.

If you have the good fortune of becoming a big-time blogger with a huge fan base and that everyone in Kuwait wants to impress DO NOT delude yourself into thinking that you are the Kuwaiti, social equivalent of Mariah Carey.

Don’t think you can threaten people with your blog.

Don’t think you can throw fits because you didn’t get your way.

Don’t think you can get away with something another “lesser” blogger can’t.

Don’t think that everyone’s waiting at your beck and call.

Don’t think your blog is too big for some things (or people) and not others.

Don’t delude yourself into thinking that no one’s ever going to call you out.

Because, at some point, someone will.

All my love! (Picture credit)

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , ,
30 Jun 2012
2 Comments

It’s Social Media Day! Celebrate Us and All Our Wonderful, Virtual Souls!

As someone who has been blogging for about half a second when compared to the overall Kuwaiti blogosphere in which some have been blogging for nearly a decade, let me tell you, in my expert opinion, what social media is and what part people like me play in it:

In a nutshell, social media is a virtual enterprise that takes advantage of the fact that, essentially, we all just want a space out there in the world that revolves completely around us.

Yes, this is the very fact of human nature which the gazillionaires behind Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Flickr and WordPress and every other social networking medium have found a way to tap into. In a world that is so centrally focused on celebrity and the need for attention, everyone wants to fancy themselves special enough for the spotlight. We want to feel like we can speak to the whole world and that they’re listening. To feel like we’re in touch with everything and everyone and can create a personal relationship with whomever we want at the click of a button.

This is something that I have no problem admitting about myself and, in fact, I blatantly stated it in the very first post I ever made on this blog. So, come on, don’t be shy! Embrace your inner Narcissus!

Now, here’s where the social media machine comes into play. You see, social media is in its purest form responsible for one thing: Connection.

Let’s take this humble little blog I’ve got here. I started this blog in July, took a 4 month vacation from all the non-posting I was doing, then came back in November and tried to do this thing right. I worked hard and made sure to post almost every single day for around 3 months, and yet my viewer rating was very poor. Naturally, I was a little de-motivated. All this hard work with little to no interaction made my little spot in the world-wide-web feel kind of worthless.

But then I made a Twitter page.

I thought, there’s no way I’ll ever know if my blog is worth reading if I don’t actually put it out under people’s noses. So I followed some fellow bloggers of whom I have been a long-time fan; I followed the people who’s opinions and insights actually mattered to me; and I followed businesses and companies in which I thought it would be in the blog’s interest to know about.

And then I interacted. I responded to a blogger here, an artist there, and basically anyone who I thought might actually be worth talking to in real life. Basically, I joined in the social mix.

In the matter of a few months after I’ve made a Twitter page and an Instagram account, I have seen many things turn around for this wee little blog and its ever humbled blogger. I’ve gotten to know (and even meet!) a good chunk of the Kuwaiti blogging community, I’ve found a way to stay on top of everything that ever happens anywhere, and, most importantly, I’ve found a way to share this extension of myself with so many new and fabulous readers.

Even better: I got to interact with my readers in a way that is instant, specific, and personal.

Thanks to the power of the social media machine the readership of this blog has increased by three-fold and, after speaking to and getting to know all these wonderful, virtual souls who have taken the time to read even a sentence of this tiny blog, I am honestly enjoying the ride a whole lot more. Experiencing that great exchange between so many amazing people is what has given me the confidence to make this OwlOlive.com, and its what gives me the motivation to keep on posting despite the hard work.

So, on Social Media Day I just want to say this: thank you, oh great Social Media Machismo. I grew out of you and now I am a part of you. So now I am going to celebrate you. And me. And all the other wonderful, virtual souls!

All my love! (And that up there is a video which the Kuwait Social Media Club has put together featuring the many voices of Kuwait’s social media machine, of which bloggers are definitely an important part)

Posted in Beautiful, Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings and tagged , , , , , , , ,
13 Jun 2012
14 Comments

My Life Is Complete: I’ve Been Plagiarized (By Darbeel… Or Not Quite)

Well, my life has officially come full circle. That’s right ladies and gents, I’ve been plagiarized.

Apparently, this ‘Darbeel’ blog has decided to join the gang of copy-paste bloggers who have made it their mission to steal every bit of their content from other hardworking bloggers in an attempt at making an easy, quick buck off of the ad revenue that well-trafficked blogs bring in.

Like their buddies Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space, this Darbeel blog (who makes every post as ‘Darbeelna’) is so lazy that they can’t even plagiarize well. They basically just copy the text in another blog and paste it onto their blog as is but just under their name. This person was so idiotically lazy that he/she didn’t realize that, in the post they stole from me, I had linked two previous other posts of mine related to the subject. AND THEY JUST COPIED THE POST INCLUDING THE OTHER LINKED POSTS.

It’s like, do you want me to eat you alive?

Darbeel have also decided to join their previous gang members–Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space–in the memorable walking of the plank, where they will definitely meet their blog’s much deserved demise (preferably with sharks and electric eels).

I’m not even going to pretend to have any tolerance for this person or their actions. I already get extremely angry and start seeing red when I discover that someone has been stealing from anyone, and now stealing from me? Oh, they better invest in some good body armor.

Oh, and as is the usual way, this blog spared no exception in their choice of thievery. They’ve seriously stolen from every blogger under the sun, but I’m not going to give this horrible blog the satisfaction of receiving a single traffic click from me more than I need to provide so I won’t link the posts they’ve stolen.

One of the many bloggers that has also gotten her work stolen by this disgrace of a blog was UmKhaloodie, and she was nice enough to point me in the direction of a very helpful article on Kuwait’s legal position on intellectual property theft. Apparently, these laws exist in Kuwait and there are punishments in place for those people that try to act like they’re above THE LAW. Even in social media, these kinds of thieves could be facing “a punishment of imprisonment for no longer than a year or fine of more than KD 500 for plagiarizing a text produced by the original author.”

Hey, Darbeel–You feeling lucky now?

Please help me stop this blog and put it to rest just like we all did in the team effort to bring an end to Hala Kuwait and Kuwait Space. There is nothing about this kind of action that is okay or that deserves to be treated as anything less than a crime. And I don’t really take to the habit of negotiating with people who have committed crimes (and crimes against me no less).

Oh, and one more thing. In case this Darbeel person is reading: Despite the fact that I want to annihilate your blog off the face of the internet, you should know that I feel very sorry for you.

All my love! (Again: please help stop and expose this person in whatever way you can)

EDIT: I’m happy to report that the plagiarized posts have been removed from Darbeel.com and that the blogger has issued an apology and an explanation. Now, personally, I don’t know how much I buy this because I’ve actually tried contacting and commenting on the stolen posts BEFORE making this post and as other posts were being made on this blog AT THE SAME TIME. But, still. I’m a reasonable person and I appreciate an apology in any case. And, at the end of the day, I’m just happy to see the content removed and the action stopped one way or another.

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , ,
30 May 2012
13 Comments

Hala Kuwait Blog: Home of the Plagiarizing Palooza!

Hey, you smell that? Why I believe its the distinct smell of someone’s pants catching on fire. That’s right, ladies and gents, we’ve uncovered yet another lying, thieving, plagiarizing gem. And this time, I have the pleasure of naming this honorable person a member of Kuwait’s blogging community.

It’s a proud day if there ever was one.

Today’s upstanding citizen is a blog that goes by the name of Hala Kuwait and, I have to say, if there ever was such a thing as ‘The Plagiarizing Olympics,’ then this fine fellow would certainly take home the gold.

You see he (or maybe she, not sure) didn’t stop at the pretty unacceptable act of plagiarizing just one post from one blog. This person has gone off the rails with this plagiarizing madness and has stolen almost every single post from almost every single blogger in Kuwait (and sometimes beyond).

That’s right! It’s a plagiarizing PALOOZA! And, well, I’m thinking of crashing the party.

So, without further ado, I leave you with just a minor example of some of the posts that were stolen from some of Kuwait’s biggest blogging names (not that this matters, but still) by Hala Kuwait. Oh and I also provided screen-caps just in case someone decided to get a little squirmy later.

Chikapappi

Stolen post | Original Post

Z-District

Stolen Post | Original Post

7ajiDude

Stolen Post | Original Post

248AM

Stolen Post | Original Post

BananaQ8

Stolen Post | Original Post

360 Dewan

Stolen Post | Original Post

Q8Path

Stolen Post | Original Post

Buz Fairy

Stolen Post | Original Post

See what I’m sayin’? PALOOZA! And, as I previously mentioned, this is but a mere smidgen of the amount of full-on thievery that this blog is committing. There is, quite literally, a post stolen from pretty much every single blog in Kuwait. If I made a list of every single one, I could publish it as a book. So, don’t feel left out, fellow blogger! I’m sure there’s at least one or two posts in there that were stolen from your very own blog. How considerate of Mr. Plagiarist-Man for making sure everyone felt included.

But, seriously, if you are a blogger then please don’t let this horrible act continue to violate both yours and others’ rights to your own original words and your own hard work. I think if we all applied some VERY HEAVY pressure on this person and tried to smoke them out that they could possibly stop.

And, if you’re just an awesome blog reader, then I’m sure you don’t like stealing anyway. So please help spread the word.

All my love!

(edit: I’m happy to let you all know that someone has reported this blog to Google for copyright infringement in the last few hours and that Hala Kuwait is now effectively CLOSED. Three cheers for teamwork!)

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , ,
05 May 2012
11 Comments

In Defense of Danderma (and Every Other Money-Making Blogger)

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Look, this blog has only been active for around 6 months now. I created it in June but only really started posting in November (plus I took a month off from mid-January to mid-February). And, even though I now have a good handle on the blogging routine and have cultivated a respectable readership (not very huge but respectable nonetheless), I still consider this blog in the beginner, formative stages.

Point is, I still don’t know anything about what it means to have such a large scope of influence and a huge, loyal readership that I can begin to use those wonderful resources to pool in some income from things like advertising or sponsorships.

And you know what? I can’t wait till that day comes. Seriously.

Now, if you follow the Kuwaiti blogosphere you will have doubtlessly heard Danderma‘s name thrown around once or twice. For those of you who live underground or out of human touch, Danderma is a wonderful Kuwaiti blogger (and author) who has been personally delighting me with her long, original, insightful, funny, and meaningful posts for years now. Her readership is huge and well-deserved.

One year ago, Danderma made a smart, practical move and decided to harness the power of this large, loyal fan base for the purposes of advertising. She made a wonderful and comprehensive post about this experience right here.

Now, I’m not going to talk about the blogging-advertising experience because, for one thing, I wouldn’t know anything about it and, for another thing, Danderma has already pretty much covered everything you need to know.

The reason why I brought up Danderma and this specific post of hers is because I’m about fed up with this notion that so many people in Kuwait have about blogging.

That false notion being that making money off your blog is wrong, deceitful, unworthy, disloyal, or selling out.

People who do make these criticisms make them without realizing a very important fact about blogging: It can be very hard work.

Making a meaningful post about something people care about and in a tone that both reads easily and is personal to me is hard work. If a blog looks easy to you then the blogger deserves a whole lot of credit because they were talented enough to make it look that way. The reality of the matter is that most bloggers have an outside life and plenty of responsibilities just like everyone else which include jobs, families, and a social life.

Oh yeah, and we’ve all got finances too.

That’s right. On top of toiling endlessly for several hours a day in a regular job, we take the time to blog on a daily basis to our readers who, in the case of someone as successful as Danderma (for example), can number in the thousands. As a single one of those thousands I can say without the slightest bit of hesitation that I personally would be very heartbroken if Danderma decided to stop blogging because it was weighing too heavily on her other life responsibilities.

And, God, for all the hard work that she and countless other Kuwaiti bloggers (myself included) put into making their blogs special and worthwhile, don’t you think some of us might deserve to have even a little bit of that weight removed by generating a slight income from something as harmless as advertising and sponsorship?

I mean, after spending all that time (we can be talking years here) and energy to create something that our readers could enjoy, relate to, or learn from, what’s wrong with a blogger getting something back for all that work?

In her post about her advertising experience, Danderma sounded a little apologetic about making just an “extra 50 KD” and that the money she was making wasn’t enough to buy her a Ferrari. I see no reason for Danderma, or any other blogger who makes money off things like ad placements, to make any such apprehensive explanations. There are bloggers out there in the world who are talented, well-loved, and who make enough money through their blogs to live off of (here they are).

Now, I’m not saying that this is the amount of money that any blogger in Kuwait makes but I see no reason why Kuwaiti bloggers can’t aspire to those standards themselves. And, I also see no reason why they need to apologize or cower away from starting to make steps towards achieving those standards (no matter how small the income actually is).

I hope to God that Danderma eventually ends up making enough money off her blog that she can retire from her actual job, buy a Ferrari, and make her wonderful, one-of-a-kind posts about it all day long.

And as for me and this tiny blog of mine? Right now I’m just focusing on cultivating my readership and making a real, distinctive voice for myself. If I am blessed one day with as much of a fan base as some of my favorite bloggers then great! Cause then their awesome loyalty can help keep OwlOlive.com up and running through helpful resources like ads and sponsorships.

Not that my current readers don’t already make me beyond happy, of course. My readers are so awesome they could all run for president and win.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
17 Mar 2012
3 Comments

Frugal Approval: A Worthy Criticism and a New Idea

A big part of the Kuwaiti blogosphere is product review. As well it should be. It’s important to showcase the great services and products that the local businesses in Kuwait offer. If you honestly took the time and effort to create something that is worth the hard earned money a consumer pays for it, then you deserve recognition and financial profit. And, with blogs becoming as popular as they are in Kuwait, its yet another great platform for people to know about great local businesses from voices they’re supposed to trust.

So, in theory, I’m totally on board here. In practice, I’m not exactly sure.

It’s disappointing for me to say this but I have read many, many blog posts in Kuwait which review a product/restaurant/event/whatever and give an absoultely stellar and raving review when, in reality, the item in question is nowhere near as amazing as they made it out to look like.

I’ve actually fallen for these kinds of reviews on more than one occasion. Friends of mine have also been fooled countless times. We trust the voices of the people we read on the blogs and we take their word that a certain product or service is worth our hard-earned cash. Then we show up, pay the big bucks, and are sourly disappointed.

That’s right. While the happy blogger gets freebies and cushy invites for the price of a biased, sugar-coated and, in some cases, wildly untrue review, the actual consumer bites the big one and is cheated out of spending their money on an unworthy business.

The lovely couple behind His & Hers Q8 made an awesome post about this issue. Basically, they pointed out the real flaws that exist in the Kuwaiti blogosphere today in which many bloggers, unfortunately, have taken to the habit of giving the most amazing reviews to the most undeserving products because of either greed, traditional ‘politeness,’ fear that they will lose out on sponsorships, or a mixture of all the above.

And, yes, I understand that turning your blog into a source of income is a good thing (and something that I personally hope for in the future), and I know that Arab hospitality and well-mannered traditions keep us from stating comments that are too negative. Especially if we were invited somewhere and given something for free. I get it. In fact, I would probably react in that same way if placed in that awkward situation.

But let’s be honest, guys: YOU WOULDN’T MIND STATING YOUR HONEST, SOMETIMES NEGATIVE, OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING IF YOU ACTUALLY PAID FOR IT.

And this is the reason why, up until now, I’ve been shying away from reviewing stuff in Kuwait. Not because I don’t have an opinion, because I do. But because I have no interest in leading a single reader on just because I felt bad about upsetting someone who gave me a free meal.

Example: a few months ago I attended the opening night of The Live Theater comedy club in Kuwait. I called to find out their timings and ticket prices and all that jazz. They asked why and asked if I was a member of the media and I said “No, I’m a blogger and I’m thinking of attending.” They happily and very nicely offered to give me free tickets and backstage passes to the opening night, but I respectfully declined because I didn’t want to feel like I “owed” them a good review.

And so I paid for my pricey ticket, showed up just like everyone else and watched. And, well, the review was not all that great. It’s wasn’t a complete blasting of The Live Theater, but I was honest. I talked about what I honestly liked and honestly didn’t. That’s because I paid my own hard-earned money to attend this event and I did not owe anyone but myself and the people reading the blog anything but the truth.

I later read posts by other Kuwaiti blogs who had attended the opening night on The Live Theaters dime and received backstage passes from them. They made the place sound like it was the most amazing venue Kuwait had ever seen. The reviews that I saw were so praiseworthy and complimentary that, to an unwitting and trusting reader, it would definitely sound like an experience worth spending your money on.

Well, as for me, I’m going to finally relent and actually start reviewing the products and services that Kuwait (and some other places) has to offer. But on one strict condition: I will only review things that I have paid money for. And that’s it. No matter how awesome and worthy the item may be, I will only review it if I forked over my cash in order to get it. No invites, no freebies, and no hidden motives or fears.

And this review section shall be called: Frugal Approval.

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
27 Feb 2012

A Proud Moment for One, a Proud Moment for All: Why His&Hers Al-Arabiya Interview Matters (A Lot)

For what has now been a time period of no less than 5 years I have been an avid blog follower. Today (and every day) I spend a good chunk of my time just reading up on a crazy handful of the hundreds of millions of inspired, unique blogs on this planet.

I’ve never shyed away from showing my special love and interest in the Kuwaiti blogosphere. The very first blogs I’ve ever read were of Kuwaiti origin. To this day, I read those same blogs and they are still, among the kaleidoscope of other blogs I now also follow, my very favorite.

I fully support the ever-growing community of bloggers in Kuwait and the fact that blogging is gaining more of an interest and recognition as a tool for social connectivity, marketing, and individual expression of all the awesome and different voices that make Kuwait the special place it is.

So, that’s why I was MORE THAN THRILLED to see that the wonderful married couple behind the lovely His & Hers Kuwaiti blog were being interviewed at Al-Arabiya, and are bringing the voice of the Kuwaiti blogosphere to an even wider audience and letting even more people know about the growing place of blogs in Kuwait’s social networking machine as well as its role as an efficient media outlet with a voice of it’s own.

I truly wish His & Her (and the rest of the Kuwaiti blogosphere) nothing but even more power, success, and absolute love for thier great contribution and extremely proud achievement. Onwards and upwards inshallah!

All my love!

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, News and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment
25 Nov 2011

You Gotta Crawl Before You Can Walk… – The Marketization of Kuwait’s Blogosphere

Ok. I’m a big supporter of Kuwait’s blogosphere. Honestly, I can’t remember how many times I used 248am, Danderma, Couch Avenue, Desert Girl, Frankom, or BananaQ8 (plus a million more) to look up their opinion on a certain event, service, product, issue, WHATEVER. The reason why I found myself drawn to these blogs and what they had to say is because they relayed matters which concern both Kuwait and other parts of the world but they did so from a personal angle which differs from the cut-and-dry method of something like a newspaper, for example.

And, I understand that, given the massive fan base which some blogs enjoy, its only natural for companies to eventually want to market themselves to such a huge viewership. I’m fully aware of the growing power of social media (which blogs form a good chunk of) on things like market value and that it presents a whole new platform for businesses to get their name out there to even more people. Marketing is a natural accessory to any well-developed blog that has honestly earned a loyal fan base through its unique, personal voice. It is not considered selling out. It’s more like reaping the fruit of your hard-earned labor.

And anyone who tells you that keeping a blog up with real, unique posts on a daily basis is not hard (especially at the beginning) IS FLAT-OUT LYING. I’ve only been doing this for about half a second now and I’m already feeling the pressure because I honestly want to communicate my own original thoughts and opinions on the things that matter to me.

However! This fruit (ie. the making of money via ad sponsorship and marketing) should NOT be the main goal of a blog. It should be an added bonus which you get for working extremely hard to cultivate such a large viewership. Lately, I’ve been seeing a whole lot of new blogs in Kuwait (and I’m talkin’ really new here) who are almost completely missing the point of the fact that YOU’VE GOTTA FREAKING CRAWL BEFORE YOU CAN WALK, SON. There are Kuwaiti blogs out there which are a little over a month old that are solely concerned with marketing businesses and events in Kuwait as opposed to genuinely contributing to the larger voice of Kuwait’s blogosphere.

They DO NOT exhibit any semblance of unique, original opinion on hardly any of their posts. Its all, “this business sells this thing at this place and HERE’S THE CONTACT INFO!” And that’s pretty much it. It would be better if they would at least give us, for example, a well-developed opinion on the product, service, or event which they’re marketing to provide some notion of a unique voice. But, they can’t even be bothered to do that. Of course, I’m not gonna name any specific blogs cause I AIN’T NO TROLL.

But, seriously? I feel like these blogs just see the amount of ad sponsorship which blogs like ilSul6ana or 248am get, and simply glaze their eyes over and think “KA-CHING!” What they don’t realize is that all these well-respected Kuwait bloggers probably started getting the big bucks only after they took the time and energy out of the years they spent to make a significant contribution to Kuwait’s blogosphere and that their viewership grew out of respect for that aspect of thier hard-work not any amount of marketing or ad sponsorship.

So, lesson of the day: Crawl? Then walk. Crawl… then walk. Crawl. Walk. Crawl. Walk…

Posted in Blogosphere, Kuwait, Musings, SAY WHAAA...! and tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment

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