I've noticed an annoying trend lately in the land of bloggy giveaways. It used to be (maybe last year?) that giveaways were fun. You left a comment, usually answering a fun or humorous question, maybe browsed a bit in the archives, and crossed your fingers. I enjoyed them because I found fun blogs that way sometimes. One of my favorite blogs was a giveaway discovery!
Unfortunately, most giveaways aren't fun anymore. Instead of "please leave a comment on X,Y,Z" we get something like this:
1) MANDATORY ENTRY: follow me through "Blogger Friend" AND follow my friend Trippy Tulip.
*For additional entries* (Leave a separate comment for each thing you do.)
2) "Like" me on facebook.
3) Follow me on twitter
4) Tweet about this giveaway.
5) Put this giveaway in your facebook status.
6) Put my button your blog sidebar.
7) Blog about this giveaway.
8) Send an email to five friends telling them about this giveaway.
9) Tell me which of the following linked posts in my archives includes the name of my cat.
10) If you do ALL of these, you'll receive a bonus entry!
Suddenly, this giveaway isn't fun and friendly anymore. For one thing, it takes too long to read and figure out what I'm supposed to do to enter. It would take WAY too long to actually do all those things. I don't even LIKE twitter and I really don't like it being used this way. And speaking of used, now I feel used, like this giveaway wasn't just meant to be fun and for kicks, but solely and entirely intended to boost the blogger's "stats".
Gah.
If you've read this far, you probably deserve a prize. :) So here you go: a $10 gift card of your choice: Starbucks, CVS, Target, or Panera. All you have to do is tell me which one you'd like. If you're feeling friendly you can also tell me what you think of this rant. ;)
Oh, and in case you clicked all those links above? I don't actually have a cat.
15 comments:
panera and for the record I agree with you. I think this is the first "giveaway" I've entered all year :-)...
Starbucks - and I'm new to all the giveaway blogs so I didn't think anything was strange about it. You are right though, they aren't "fun".
What's your favorite blog that you mentioned that you discovered via a giveaway?
Alisha, I believe that I found Splendor in the Ordinary via a giveaway. She's an Anglican mother of three, and our lives were very much in similar places when I found her. She's not blogging much anymore, but I hope she'll start back up. :)
http://ordinarysplendor.blogspot.com/
This is the first giveaway I've entered (I think)-- so I can't speak for other giveaways, but this one is fun. :-)
Oh-- Starbucks.
Don't enter me in the giveaway Em, but I do agree with you about the complicated entries. I have stopped entering because it feels like an invasion of privacy somehow. Good rant!
Betsy
I shop at CVS every week, so I would love to win a CVS gift card. And, yes, I agree that some giveaways are so complicated that I just pass on by instead of entering!
bkittie@hotmail.com
LOL I totally agree! I've stopped entering most blog contests for the same reason!
Whoah, a guft card, really? Panera!
I couldn't agree more about giveaways. I give up before even entering.
You are so cute, I love this rant!! I normally enter on blogs that I'm already following anyway. Everyone tells me Panera is SO GOOD, but I've never gone- maybe if I win I'll go find out ;)
Target, for the broke college student who needs to start looking for Christmas gifts :P As for the rant, those giveaways don't sound fun at all. I'd be upset too if things had changed like that. Also, it makes me mad when people have you do things just so they get more publicity. Completely. Lame. The end :)
Starbucks! And I agree. I think I have entered at total of one other giveaway and I usually end up not reading blogs that go the way you mentioned.
Love the Halloween pictures!
Oh, THANK you. I totally agree! I've never entered any giveaways unless I can just leave a comment. And really - the simpler a giveaway is, the more time I actually end up spending on that bloggers website, more fun for both of us ! (Oh, I'd love a Starbucks card, great timing for a warm treat; thanks!) Suz - belauvibes (at) yahoo (dot) com
Target, and I totally agree... it seems like entering giveaways could be a full-time job!
I TOTALLY agree. I feel used also. I really enjoying "facebooking" with my friends, but it would get really annoying if it just gets filled up with "I want to win this" posts. Just annoying.
This one is fun!
And, of all those, I love Starbucks (or Target!) the most. You are awesome!
Too late for the giveaway, but had to say that I love the rant! Couldn't agree with you more!
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