Here’s a video clip from the Liberty Mutual booth that was doing interviews on responsible blogging:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaX2nMo5z_k&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eresponsibilityproject%2Ecom%2Findex%2Fblogher%5Fplayer%2F%3Fvideo%5Fid%3DaaX2nMo5z%5Fk&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I am grateful I was able to attend this year’s BlogHer09. After the inital kick off Friday, I visited the famed ”expo center” to see what everyone was raving about. Once inside, I let my eyes lead me. I took photos of booths, piecing together who they were targeting based on the design. I also took note of the gender, age and race of folks working the booths. I steered clear of any booths that had kid toys and pastel colors.
My First BlogHer Swag Item
I eventually made it to the Liberty Mutual booth and they had a huge sign that said, “What is Responsible Blogging?”. I saw this as a good opportunity to share my opinion and get in some public speaking practice so away I went!
They asked what responsible blogging meant to me and what I thought of the proposed FTC guidelines. I personally have not been compensated by any company to blog about their products. I have started this year to contact technology companies I feel passionately about to explore sponsorships and partnerships. Companies have contacted me about advertising on my blogs and I’ve reviewed them on a case by case basis to see if things were a good fit.
Did Technology Swag Affect My Opinion?
This is where I scored the 250GB External Western Digital Passport drive. I didn’t know these were being given out to the first 20 folks who did a video interview but sure felt happy when they handed me one! I estimate the retail value at $80.
What I Knew and Now Know About Liberty Mutual
I had done laptop data migrations for Liberty Mutual before on behalf of Teksystems so I was familiar with them as an insurance company but not for this new responsibility blog they had going at http://www.responsibilityproject.com. I surfed the site a bit with one of the women working the booth and vowed to review it in more detail after I got home.
Reading over the stories of alleged teenage pregnancy “pacts” and Paris Hilton’s cancelled relief efforts in Rwanda, I enjoyed the comments people left and developed perspective on issues I hadn’t really paid attention to in the news.
Overall Impression
I give kudos to Liberty Mutual for doing a blog on these topics which encourage participation in the comments. I think it was a great way for Liberty to get their feet wet in blogging as well. The design of the site is easy on the eyes, the articles are well written and I found the comments to be appropriate. I give them a thumbs up for using Feedburner for theirs RSS feed.
