What comes off as jealous and scorn that she was forgotten about by Kmart, International Association of Business Communicators Chairwoman, Barbara Gibson wrote a little rant about all of us bloggers who participated in the Kmart Campaign.
She does not attack me so much as she goes after Social Media guru Chris Brogan:
Then today I read a tweet by Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang about a campaign where Kmart paid bloggers to write posts about shopping in their stores. He pointed out that such tactics were cost-effective, and would lead to more of the same, and he questioned whether it would hurt blogger credibility.
Specifically about me she says:
I followed the first link he provided and read the blog post, by Jeremy Schoemaker, someone I’d never heard of. Fair enough, I thought.
So why even mention me? Maybe if you spent 10 mins on my site you would see that I don’t blog for a living. I was paid $500 plus I received a $500 gift card to shop at Kmart.
My “paid post” price is $6500 and even at that price we are very selective and do MAYBE 3-4 a year.
I will answer her question though about integrity. Since writing that post I picked up about 2500 RSS readers and 1500 twitter followers.
Hang in there Barbara- Maybe you will be asked next time. NOT
- Comment Likes 
- Comment Dislikes
December 18, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Amazing stuff, it’s sad to know someone @ IABC would go after bloggers.
People are living in the past……It’s amazing.
December 17, 2008 at 10:28 pm
dont mess with the shoe man
December 13, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Sounds like Barbara is trying to be sincere in her apology. Is there any credit given where credit is due? Your post about the situation has given you both a bit more notoriety in the long run and that can’t be bad. Even bad publicity can be good publicity and I think that quote is true in this case. Just a thought.
Milo
Wind, Rock & Ride! – http://windrocktrails.com
December 22, 2008 at 1:30 am
That URL in your signature amounts to good publicity, methinks
December 13, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Why would she even speak?????
December 13, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Wow she seems to be very rude and snotty. I hate those types. Just ignore her. She only wishes she can have the freedom as you do.
December 14, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I believe the correct term is snoody, and yes I have to agree with you. Very snoody indeed!
December 13, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Barbara,
If I did find your Blog you look like the outdoor type that stepped in some crap, LOL.
Shoe you said you can’t even write and you get $6,500 a post, there are a lot of things I don’t do well and I can’t even give it away for free.
December 13, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Come on Kmart, what about me, I would have loved to blog about you and I would have taken a lot less too
, and yes, we do have Kmart in Australia.
December 14, 2008 at 4:44 am
Congrats Sire! Seems like you won a shirt too..
December 15, 2008 at 2:46 am
Don’t mess with me Ben, the excitement of winning something may be all this old ticker needs to stop functioning.
December 13, 2008 at 7:07 pm
I don’t see any problem with that…
People want to promote and they pay.. what’s the prob there.
December 13, 2008 at 6:56 pm
In tracking down her blog, came through a few other IABC bios and blogs. Egos run rampant there. I know in the blogosphere that is nothing new, but they take it to a whole new level.
December 17, 2008 at 8:54 am
Did you find the address to her blog??
December 22, 2008 at 1:26 am
What is the URL to her blog? Would love to go check it out and see if it is so bad.
December 24, 2008 at 3:24 am
Yeah, I’d also like to know the address. I’m going to see if I can find it.
December 13, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I enjoyed that post! I think Kmart had a great idea in $500 blogger shopping spree. I’m sure it was very cost effective for them, and you got some free stuff. Nothing wrong with free stuff!
December 22, 2008 at 1:28 am
It was a barter exchange, and both parties benefitted, KMart most prob more than the bloggers. Smart marketing in tough economic times.
December 13, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I love how you don’t even give a link to where she is saying this : ) Don’t buy into the link bait, although it’s highly possible she isn’t aware of that concept anyway.
December 13, 2008 at 5:41 pm
He he, barbie was a little cranky!
December 16, 2008 at 9:29 pm
hahaha I guess she was
December 13, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Does she have a blog? I can’t seem to find her by googling her name!
December 13, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I thought she said that she had something against bloggers.
December 13, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I loved that post with the shopping. I don’t understand why it bothers some people.
December 19, 2008 at 11:01 am
Maybe because it has so many people participated
December 13, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I say why not get paid to do the things that you love to do. If a company was going to give me 500 dollars to shop for free why not do it. What is it going to hurt. I think everyone posted that this was a sponsored post. So this wouldn’t hurt the bloggers credibility or integrity because they disclosed it as a sponsored post. Greg Ellison
December 24, 2008 at 3:23 am
I agree with you. Better to get paid for doing something you love than to work at a regular job you hate.
December 13, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I thought it was a great blog post. Its was smart on kmarts part. Now if they take all of the dvds out from behind the locked cases and update a few things in the store, I would probably go more often
December 13, 2008 at 3:12 pm
maybe she will send zeddy the teddy after you :O ( for those of you who dont know that was K’marts official mascot of sort).
December 13, 2008 at 2:59 pm
yea don’t mess with the Shoe. Don’t feed him undercooked shrimp nor call him merely a full-time blogger
Where is the link to her rant? maybe the term should not be blogging anymore maybe it should be ranting or tit-for-tat-ing
December 13, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Wow – seems as though she HAS ruffled your feathers. There could be a cultural clash happening here as the Brits tend to question and be more direct.
The great thing happening here is the beauty of free speech in action. It allows her to have an opinion and for you to have your own opinion.
However, I am not sure why it is so upsetting to you?
Can you share your thoughts on paid to post (gift cards is payment) vs. bloggers who blog just because. Does full disclosure take away from the message?
Let’s talk about the issue without pointing fingers.
December 13, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I do not think they have done their homework about bloggers if they have not heard of you. All you have to do is check Technorati, etc. I run a social and digital marketing company as well and I would put you up their with the most influential bloggers for numerous niches from personal blogging to internet marketing..
December 18, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I agree. Clearly if the Sears CMO has heard of Jeremy, the IABC should have some idea. Especially if they are “champions” of word-of-mouth marketing, truth in advertising, etc.
December 24, 2008 at 3:22 am
Pretty much. I’m not even in the same niche & I know who he is.
December 13, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Doesn’t she know not to mess with the Shoe? Come on lady.
December 13, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Nahh, I didn’t think so, Why you think so…
December 14, 2008 at 4:01 pm
LOL, everyone is entitled to their opinion, all in all I think Kmart is brilliant in this marketing strategy
December 15, 2008 at 7:23 am
Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion that why I ask him why he think so ?
December 15, 2008 at 3:45 am
Lolz..Don’t mess with $hoe
December 13, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Boy, you really missed both my point and my motives. I wasn’t criticizing you or other Kmart bloggers, and I wasn’t event intending to criticize Chris Brogan. I mentioned your post because I thought it helped tell the story of how I, as a blog reader, felt about the practise. When I read your post, since I didn’t know you already (no offense meant), the whole idea of the promotion didn’t bother me. In fact, I answered @jowyang’s post saying that I didn’t see a problem with it, since it was fully disclosed. It was only when I then read something similar by someone who already had a brand position in my head (because I’d been following him for awhile), that I realized that, in fact, it could impact how I viewed the blogger. I still admire and respect Chris Brogan. And I don’t have a problem with you or anyone else who took part in the promotion. I also have no desire for online fame, though I am loving the whole social media world, and am still learning it. Sorry if my post offended you.
December 13, 2008 at 7:46 pm
What was the point/motive? I’m probably just dense…
December 22, 2008 at 1:16 am
Heheheheheh! And you now know who Jeremy is. Maybe there could be future synergy if you guys let bygones be bygones?
December 13, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Maybe if this lady every had a following that was worth paying for a post on her site she would change her mind.
December 13, 2008 at 1:06 pm
WOW not very professional for someone in a chair position….
December 13, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I agree with you. There are too many people like this that seem to get a little bit jealous of people and say something to try to hurt them somehow. It seems like people always act like they do not know that person though.
December 13, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Shoe in her post she does come off as scorned. Nice call out.
December 13, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Despite the fact that her article is an epic fail – the traffic increase shes given you is great!!! Funny how things work out in the end – looks like shes just helping your cause, and hurting her own!!