Martha Stewart Bad Mouths Bloggers

I'll be the first to admit that I am no expert when it comes to anything I write about on my blog. This blog is a way for me to explore my interests related to public relations, event planning and the entertainment industry. Every week I try to write about trending topics that I believe my viewers and myself can learn from.

Martha Stewart recently created a commotion when she insulted bloggers in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Stewart stated "Who are these bloggers? They're not trained editors and writers at Vogue magazine. I mean, there are bloggers writing recipes that aren't tested, that aren't necessarily very good or are copies of everything that really good editors have created and done."

While I agree that some bloggers have no background or knowledge to support what they are writing about, there still are many talented individuals who started blogging and became best selling authors or food TV personalities because of their successful blogs and huge fan base. I don't think it was Martha's intention to offend some of her most loyal fans when she was trash talking bloggers. Martha most likely does not understand how blogging can be a powerful tool to create a relationship with viewers. Blogging allows writers to establish a close bond with their fans. This connection creates a daily presence in people's lives that runs much deeper than say a rerun of a Martha Stewart Living episode playing for the 200th time.

It is disheartening that the food and lifestyle bloggers Martha offended are actually some of her biggest fans. These are the people that are spreading the word about Martha's latest appetizer recipe for your neighbor's barbecue or her new fall centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner table. Martha never started out as an expert food or lifestyle guru, which is similar to a lot of her bloggers. If Martha can share her passion of sharing her food and lifestyle techniques to others, why can't bloggers also express their knowledge and interests with their viewers?

A social media strategy that could have prevented this mishap would have been if Martha was actively responding to comments on her own blog. If Martha understood the power behind a blog I don't think she would have made those negative comments towards bloggers. In this situation, I would advise Martha's PR team to publicly apologize for offending any of Martha's fans and bloggers. It would be beneficial her PR team could also devote a week of promoting other food and lifestyle blogs on Martha's blog. This could hopefully rebuild some of the trust Martha lost from her biggest fans and bloggers.