I’ve been blogging for a while now and new things just keep evolving in the blog world. Some of them are amazeballs, other’s stink like a skunk! I’ve found online friends that I wouldn’t have met otherwise and I’ve won some crazy awesome contests. Since 2008, I’ve racked up some sweet prizes; books, jewelry, electronics/printer, software, clothing, giftcards and more. I love playing along!
Lately, the big thing out there in bloggy contests is the Rafflecopter. I’m not sure how the blogger comes into joining one (since I don’t play the rafflecopter game) but I will say that I’m a huge hater of the process. Why? I’ll give you my lame legit reasons.
1–They tend to have MULTIPLE bloggers participating! What does that matter? Well, if you have to go down a list of 10 or more blogs and click to LIKE them on Facebook, click to JOIN on Google Friend Connect and Tweet about them…you’ve invested a good amount of your day just TRYING to enter to win a single prize (that usually is worth approx. $130). Seriously, I’d rather buy my own Kindle or ipod! It’s just NOT WORTH the hassle.
2–The links always ALWAYS have some snafu’s! What does that mean? Every single time I’ve tried to play along on a rafflecopter, somewhere down the LONG LINE of blog clicks…I have managed to find the one that isn’t working quite right. Since this is so very time consuming, you either have to walk away and risk forgetting about where you left off or you hang with it and keep pushing on hoping to successfuly get through. Again, so not worth it. Especially when the rules are so strict about FOLLOWING THE RULES EXACTLY and completing every single step. Which are many, people!
3–Who knows if you’re REALLY entered? The way the rafflecopter system is set, you go down a long line of blog entries and follow whatever clicks they offer and when you’ve jumped through all the blog contest hoops..you click I DID THIS! That’s it! Nothing says, “You’re entered” or “you are # so-n-so”. It gives no evidence that you’re an actual player in the contest (for the whopping prize of a new set of books for your toddler or whatever). The only thing you may see is some outrageous number of +86,998 entries so far. Uhh, really discouraging! If you ask me, which I know you didn’t but this is my take on the rafflecopter…so I’m saying it like I see it. Who wants to play THE LOTTO? This is a BLOG CONTEST PEOPLE!!!
4–The constant flow of “stuff” from the new FACEBOOK friends is overwhelming! Now, they like to throw in that if you HIDE them from you page that you are DISQUALIFIED from their GIANT prize giveaway! So, you are either held hostage (while you wait to hear if you were THE ONE out of 150,000 players to win the knife set) while their constant flow of crazy-ness comes filling up your Facebook page or you hide/block them and have wasted enormous time with the whole process. I’m so totally not a fan of this. I’m really not interested in tons of nonsense that some of these sites share. Seriously, I’m not a fan!!
5–What good is this for the blogger folks offering the prize? I’m talking about 1 ipod or 1 Nook Color for all 20 + bloggers. That’s it. One prize is given for all of those blogs! Not each blog. One! Seriously, they could have thrown in $10-15 dollars for the ONE prize and all this work does what? If this is for advertising of their blog…it doesn’t work! I’m so busy trying to follow every rule and jump through every hoop that I never get to actually look over their blog. Honestly, after all that….I want to leave nasty-grams on their comments (but I don’t!!). Not read or browse…let alone make a new bloggy friend! It’s a total turn-me-away-er! Buhbye!
Ok, no more ranting. I’ve just been holding this in for weeks now and thought why not share my take. I posted on Facebook how I loathe the Rafflecopter and immediately had a fellow blogger/Facebook friend question me as to WHY. She felt they were great and wanted to know why I felt the way I did. So, I shared these same reasons with her. I don’t know if it helped her see or empowered her to carry on with her rafflecopter dreams. Either way, I’m not interested. Since I’ve confessed to be a hater! Kidding!
The way I see it is this…if you’re doing a giveaway to REACH people and to get them to read your blog make it easy and fun. That’s what draws more readers and keeps them coming back. I’m just not interested in the commercialized or businessy style that Rafflecopter provides. Like everything in this free country we live in….if you don’t like something, you don’t have to do it. If I see a Rafflecopter–I just click the other way.
PS. If you like that sort of thing, please ignore my opinion. I’ve learned that everyone is different and what one person likes another might not like. You choose. Rafflecopter is right up there with Twitter for me. Blek, to both! 😉
