My Life as a Celebrity Blogger : Guest Blog

Aug 21, 2010 by Guest Blogger    9 Comments    Posted under: Those Girls, Wild Guest Bloggers

Hello Wild Guys and Dolls! I’m Izabela Szydlo, Editor-in-Chief of Toronto-based pop culture magazine CreamWorld. Cream, by the way, stands for Cars, Real Estate, Entertainment Arts & Culture and Models. I also happen to run the magazine’s official blog, creamworldmagazine.blogspot.com, with which I scientifically explore and analyze the culture of celebrity. Oh! Who am I kidding? I’m a gossip addict (with a conscience)…and your guest blogger for today.

I remember staring at the image of Rihanna without blinking. Her eyes were swollen shut, her lip was cut and it looked like two horns were growing out of the sides of her head. In reality, they were lumps she received during a severe fight with then boyfriend Chris Brown that would be in the headlines for months to come. I felt like a voyeur, but I couldn’t look away. People speculated whether Chris Brown, in all his bubblegum pop innocence, could’ve done this. Talk peppered with assumption continued for months and new “information” emerged everyday. The situation now serves as a perfect example of how we interpret celebrity blogs.

Ah, yes. Celebrity blogs. They’re a mostly barren landscape of rumours, gossip and speculation, but the public can’t seem to get enough. Whether true or not, the things we read on celeb blogs provide great conversation topics during awkward moments with co-workers or when we’re hanging out with friends. Although I’ve published my fair share of rumours on CreamWorld’s blog, I have my limits. If it’s a rumour, I state that it is. If it’s my opinion, I make it clear. If I’m making fun of someone, you’ll know it. I just wish other bloggers would have the same courtesy. How many times have you heard your friends recite, word for word, a blind item they saw on a celeb blog site as fact? It’s a pandemic, people! But fear not, after being engrossed in the celeb blog world for more than a year, I’ve learned a thing or two about deciphering the tricks used by those crafty celeb bloggers.

1. If there’s no clear source (i.e. a video of Jay-Z saying he’s divorcing Beyonce), chances are it’s not true. Phrases like “close sources say”, “a solid source has confirmed” or  “the insider explained” are convenient ways of covering up a complete rumour.

2. Watch for descrepencies. Celebrity bloggers love to turn something innocent into a headline. For example, you’ll see something like, “A Pregnant Alicia Keys Has Steamy Affair with Prince!” There will be a photo of Alicia and Prince standing close together and speaking in what appears to be an intimate manner. Look at the corner of the photo for a DJ booth. Chances are they were in a loud club, had to lean in to speak and Swizz Beatz was cropped out of the image.

3. Learn to spot total assumptions. Here’s a classic one. Last month, photos surfaced of Halle Berry and her assistant walking arm-in-arm and laughing. One blogger wrote an entire story about how the woman was Halle’s lesbian lover and was whispering sweet-nothings in her ear. *blank stare * Note to self, if you link arms with friends, you’re a lesbian.

4. Bloggers pick targets. I’m guilty of it too; some targets are just so easy. But I digress. These “chosen ones” will get smeared, no matter what they do. They’re also often the topic of rumours. So, if you visit a blog five times and every time you go, it’s trashing Nicki Minaj, chances are she’s a target. (This works in reverse too because bloggers have “favourites”, who can do no wrong in their eyes).

5. Read the entire post. Sometimes you’ll get to the end to discover that a celeb blogger’s headline was actually a catchy ploy to get you to read the story and contains maybe an ouch of truth.

With these tips in mind, have you ever fallen victim to the “celebrity blog disease” that had you believing a wild rumour? What do you think makes celeb blogs so popular?

Thanks to Izabela for an amazing post this weekend. Girl knows a thing or two about how to work celeb blogs because not only does she have one but she has also gotten her magazine in top ones like MediaTakeout, Bossip, Nah Right, All Hip-Hop and 2DopeBoyz. Creamworld Magazine is a quarterly publication that I am actually a senior writer for! It has given me the opportunity to interview Ciara, Kid Cudi, Keri Hilson, Robin Thicke, Drake and Girlicious to name a few, click CreamWorld for more details. Izabela is a journalistic gem and I want to thank her soooooooo much for taking the time to write an exclusive piece for TGAW!

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