Flawg

The other day, someone close to me brought up the term 'fake blog' referring to bloggers whose sole intent is to create a blog to make money.

Let me make a distinction: it seems there are two types of fake blogs. The first pertains to those whose only intent is to make money through google adsense or affiliate links via fake content. The second type pertains to those who have a blog about their life or an aspect of their business/area of expertise, and subsequently have relevant affiliate links and google adsense to capitalize on the suggestions they make.

A 'fake blog' is much more easily stated as a "flawg" -not to be confused with "flog", which has negative connotations.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with having a flawg since well-intended flawgs are essentially a derivation of 'word of mouth' or viral marketing. For example, if I check out a fellow bloggers' post about a new album they really enjoy, listen to it and then buy the song through itunes via a link in their post, what's the harm in that? That blogger has made buying a good album easier for those who read their blog.

Therefore, although the idea of flawging may be a horrific notion to some bloggers, it seems like a natural and largely resourceful evolution of blogging. Flawging has become a marketing trend that will likely stick around for awhile -at least until it evolves into a different format when the next trend in technology rears its head.