fitzroyalty

A ‘customised’ sign on Rose St.

Australian food bloggers are organising themselves into a coherent media entity that can engage with advertisers, marketers and food industry public relations representatives. In recent weeks I’ve seen several examples of what I suspect will soon be a flood of sponsored, paid for or otherwise commissioned reviews from Melbourne food blogs.

This is an unfortunate but necessary reality. The effort to publish quality content on a regular basis takes time, energy and does incur costs (for web hosting, cameras, etc). It’s reasonable for bloggers to seek some return on their investment of time and effort. As bloggers replace enthusiasm with financial gain as their motivation, their sites will evolve.

I am interested in the intersection of inspiration, creativity, commerciality, independence, ethics and professionalism that shapes what blogs and websites are and how they develop. Having chosen not to accept advertising, as a publisher I’m a curious observer of the commercialisation of Melbourne blogs.

As an audience member, I wonder if social media or citizen journalism will survive as an amateur activity, or whether commercial concerns will intervene to homogenise and undermine what audiences find unique and worthwhile about blogs.

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I was standing on Smith St recently admiring this lovely art nouveau building when a shape in one of the upper windows caught my eye. Using my camera to zoom in, I saw that it’s a mannequin wearing a novelty hooker nurse outfit. Of course it is…

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Thomas Gannan furniture on Brunswick St is moving. I hope they are not going far as I have bought lots of things there and the owners are lovely people who provide excellent service. In the meantime you may find a bargain in their moving sale.