Credit to Soloverly for this. I loved the question so I nicked it even though its been a while 🙂 Incidentally, recent market research has shown that bloggers have more influence on purchases than magazines or celebrities even (does this mean they should be paying us those meeellions instead of the celebs? 😉 ) (source 1, source 2)
So, are you influenced by the blogs you read?
It doesn’t have to be beauty blogs, although if you are here then you might be reading quite a few beauty blogs too right? 🙂 But it could be any blog.
I’m a blog reader too and I say yes. Overwhelmingly so!
I’m influenced, not only to purchase the item raved about but the experience or just the whole package. If its a food recipe blog, I’m influenced to start cooking again. Or if its a food review blog, I want to visit those restaurants (even if I’m disappointed when I do)
If its a beauty blog, I want to buy the product that the bloggers rave about. Or I’m swayed to visit locales I’d never go to or to do things I might never do.
And its not any blogger than can do that for me. Some blogs actually have the reverse effect on me, by making me not want to buy the featured item. Its weird right? I think because we are all social animals, different vibes and styles rub off differently on each of us.
So some styles may draw me in, even if it is a product, experience or brand I’d never think of venturing to try, but some styles just turn me off the product, experience or brand even if I’m dying to try it. Guess it all comes down to blogger credibility too 🙂
Your Say: Are you influenced by the blogs you read?
Paris B
I am extremely influenced! I read a lot of blogs and I want to experience what the writer has raved about :p There are many drugstore eyeshadows I would’ve never cared for until blogs came along (Wet N Wild palettes!) 🙂
I have blogs to thank for things like swatches and introducing new brands/products that we might not have noticed or come across before. Also, the more bloggers rave, the more I want to try them… which is really bad for the wallet 😛
I bought a Coffret D’or blush because of you, Paris! 🙂
Oh and I hope you liked it! 😀
Definitely! I tend to check out products that got positive reviews from my favourite bloggers and avoid those that got negative ones..I trust blogs a lot more than mags or celeb endorsements.
I’m the same! 😀 But its always hard to find negative reviews of products – I think people just want to stay happy on the internet so they don’t write about stuff they don’t like LOL!
I finally commented even though I’ve been lurking for a while 😀 I only read beauty blogs and they totally influence me, if only for the exposure to the brand and product. YouTube vids of makeup is pretty great too. Unfortunately a fair number of bloggers/YouTube ppl are pretty much shills that give good reviews so that they can get more free goodies. The great thing is that you notice it after a while, like not EVERY product can be a HG right?? The most honest person is prob gossmakeupartist on YouTube, who says that he gets free things sometimes but if he doesn’t like it, he feedbacks to the company first. So usually he doesn’t get anything 😀 another pet peeve is that beauty bloggers tend to be quite insular, like I love Japanese makeup but not many girls who cover that also venture much in western makeup beyond the usual MAC and occasional NARS and vice-versa. I love it when the bloggers bother to do ingredients check, especially for minefields
like sunscreen 😀
I must say I love your blog for some reason. I think it might be our shared commonality of short lashes!
Hi Sundrenched! You have short stick straight lashes too? Great! You’d identify with me in my mascara adventures LOL! 😀 Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts – don’t be a stranger now! 😉
Completely. I think that if a blogger I regularly read was to say something negative about a beauty product or even a book, I probably wouldn’t buy it.
I’m the same too. It certainly dampens my enthusiasm 🙂
Unfortunately, yes! Gosh, you bloggers need to take on a lot of responsibility with what you blog about!! XDDD
There was one time I avoided a new Japanese restaurant because a blogger wrote a negative review on it. Fast forward a year later, I decided to try out this ‘lousy’ restaurant and I now go there at least twice a week! =P The same with beauty products. I trusted a positive review on a BB cream with my life and ended up ruining my face in the process. I still can’t believe I persisted through it for months because I thought I was ‘purging’ before the good stuff kicks in until a colleague knocked sense into me by simply asking me what happened to my face.
Now I’ve learned to keep a very open mind about everything I read because what works for them doesn’t necessarily work for me too. It’ll still come down to personal experiences of trial and error.
You’ve got it down to a science! 🙂 As with everything, tastes are pretty much individual things so it pays to read around, and if time/funds permit, try the product or service in question and perhaps it could just work. I am a little more careful with things like skincare because they do tend to react differently on different people. I don’t have very sensitive skin so many products don’t make me break out, but sometimes, on someone else it could be disaster.
I have to admit – I’m awfully tempted by a lot of things you blog about! xD
But reviews do help to influence people, especially if you feel that you may share similar/completely different tastes with the blogger in question. The friendlier, more personal blog approach also helps create an impression of a friend testing the waters first before giving you the A-OK or a heads-up.
We are like canary birds down in a mine! 😀 LOL I hope whatever you have been tempted by and tried have worked for you 🙂
I’m definitely influenced by your blog!!! I very much trust your opinions on products, they seem very rational, although usually you introduce pricey beauty items, and I have to remind myself that I’m a student and I have to watch my budget. yet sometimes I cannot resist and that’s dangerous!!! I think I have to quit reading your blog Paris!!! haha, joking, but seriously please write more posts on cheaperrrr items. thanks dear
Thank you Ava. I will try to incorporate more budget brands but unfortunately I do veer towards the higher end brands and products personally. But still, whenever I come across something lower end thats good, I’ll be sure to share my thoughts on them! 😀
Hell yes, mainly travel blogs (reading much about travelling lately) and beauty blogs. I couldn’t care less about some blogs that are only storages for shameless sponsored ads, but I go for the ones who tell the pros and cons – specially the cons. To me, a blog is not only about starry-eyed ravings but also about nit-picking criticism. I don’t want to hear anyone squealing “OMG! This is so AWESOME! BUY TONS OF IT!” but “This is good because… but then again… buy at your own discretion”. There are too many bubbly blogs already and I skip them all. Gotta read blogs that matter.^^ And that’s how I found yours, miles away from home. 😉
You’re right Mari. There are loads of bubbly blogs out there where everything comes up roses and sunshine. Sometimes, we have to know about things that don’t work, so we can avoid it. I haven’t been following your blog for very long because of the language barrier but I love reading foreign blogs too and learning (and wanting) things we can’t get here 😛
Absolutely! Food, books, cosmetics – I tend to trust bloggers more (less likely to be endorsing products for money than celebrities).
Definitely! So many of my purchases and lemmings are enabled by the blogs I read (yours included, ahem, ahem). If its a negative review done by a blogger I respect and trust, then the product usually is an instant turn off for me too.
And food…ahhh…yes…I feel like cracking it in the kitchen immediately when I see all those yummy food being reviewed on foodie blogs. Blogs are big, big, massive influencers!
YES.. coz magazines are liars 🙂