Expand and Contract

I told a friend via Twitter recently that it seems like my online life is a continual cycle of “expand and contract.”

I get ambitious, get enchanted by new ideas or opportunities online, and I begin to devour every chance to learn and grow and connect.  And then I realize that it’s begun to overshadow other elements of my life, or perhaps even the online priorities I established in the first place.

To be clear, I began blogging (and continue to love it) for four major reasons:

1. To Express – my thoughts, hopes, frustrations, all through writing (the only creative medium where I am truly comfortable)
2. To Connect – primarily with family, since they are so far away, but also with the vast, fascintating population online
3. To Learn – I must keep my mind moving, and learning the ins and outs of social media has been so rewarding
4. To Create – once there was nothing, and then there was my space.  Blogging is amazing that way – what you can learn in terms of design and graphics, and what kind of place you can carve out for yourself online.

For a long time, simply keeping this blog updated seemed to fulfill those four priorities.  But when I tapped into the stream of companies and PR professionals wanting to use the voice of mom bloggers to advance their brands, I thought of what a great opportunity that would be to continue to express and connect and learn and create online, just in a different way than I had been doing.

After working with a handful of companies and publishing those reviews here at Tree, Root, and Twig, I began to worry about my readership here.  I worried that I was boring you – or at worst, offending you – with the product spotlights.  I posted a poll here, and the data seemed to show that my readers would tolerate the product reviews, but weren’t too thrilled about it.  Out of great concern, I decided to create a separate blog, Full Nest Reviews.

Initially, I welcomed the freedom to work with whatever company I wanted to, review any product I wanted to, and not worry if my family or personal friends or long-time readers were going to be irritated.  I believe I created a lovely site, I’ve had great success with companies, and reader response and subscribers there have been fantastic.

But something has happened that I did not expect, because how could I expect it?  I was trying some uncharted territory for myself.

I feel like my review blog has become totally impersonal.  I feel that a large percentage of my readers there (not all!  but many) are not there for ME, nor are they really there for the reviews most of the time, but they are there for the giveaways that often accompany the reviews.  I see entry after entry from people who only publish blogs to post contest links, who only have twitter accounts to broadcast giveaways.  I want to be part of a community online, I don’t want to enable a crowd of people interested in just shouting into the wind.

I still feel sometimes like I need to defend my interest in doing product reviews.  There are many early adopters of social media who look at those of us who review products as “polluting” the original use and intention of blogging.  We’re the red-headed step-children, so to speak.  And if we decide to do it for nothing more than free product, then we are even worse.

That’s a HUGE conversation I don’t have the energy to have right now, though I do have some opinions.  Just know that I have an enormous amount of respect for the women who blazed these blogging trails for me, and who work hard to make money from their sites.

Here is who I am, and here is what I want to do:

I am an honest, intelligent, interested member of the mom blogging community.  I want to use this platform to share stories of my life as a busy “mom of many,” express my thoughts and concerns on issues surrounding parenting, personal enrichment, social media, or whatever strikes my fancy, and share my experiences with products and companies that are of interest to me, and may be of interest to you.  I plan on doing ALL of this with integrity and with an eye to representing myself for who I really am.

My plan is to integrate all of these things back here to Tree, Root, and Twig.  Product reviews and all.  And I may be sprinkling more vlogging in here, too!  I really do hope that if you read me, you’ll stay with me.  I cannot promise these will be the last changes I ever make, but I can promise that any changes I make from now on will be authentic and in keeping with the goals I have for myself and also for my family.

I really appreciate each and every one of you who visit me here.  And I openly welcome any comments, suggestions, or requests you would like to offer about making your time here well-spent.

You might also enjoy these related posts from Tree, Root, and Twig:

1. QVC & Me
2. Quit Harshing My Blog Mellow
3. Your Blog Misses You

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