The Controversy on the Blog of a 13-year Old Kid
The 13-year old blogger, Carl Ocab, is now popular in the Philippine blogosphere.
Antonista didn’t link back to Carl Ocab’s blog because he did’t want to contribute to the popularity of the controversial blog, without thinking that by just talking about Carl, mentioning his name and linking back to Yuga’s post about Carl are ways of making Carl more famous. It might be true that Antonista blog is catering an average of 50 unique visitors a day only, but the number is already good addition to the number of those who regularly visit Carl’s blog. But why are you afraid of linking back to Carl’s blog? Am I not linking back to your blog?
What makes Carl’s blog famous?
Since the start of the “Make Money with 13-year Old” blog, it already have drawn much attention from Pinoy Bloggers and few of A-Lister Western bloggers. The marketing of the blog through its title is quite successful.
When the blog won the “Top 10 Emerging Influential Blog for 2007“, it got more attention from some real influential Filipino bloggers. Yuga quoted them:
Noemi started out the conversation:
Responsible bloggers recognize that they are publishing words for everyone to read. Does it follow that they have certain ethical obligations to their readers, the people they write about, and society in general ? The blog’s greatest strength, particularly its uncensored and uncontrolled voice, is deemed its greatest weakness. Most bloggers are against anything that constrain their freedom. But most bloggers also know that The blogosphere runs on customs and norms – on what the community feels is acceptable…
BA Racoma says:
What’s so cool and disturbing about Web2.0 is that it’s sooooooo easy to fake your identity. That’s why I use my real nickname and last name in the blogosphere, so as not to lose my identity when I read and comment on other blogs.
Andrew adds:
We see something that’s so blatantly wrong but have no guts to acknowledge it. But I guess that can be attributed to the fact that this grand scheme of deception involves a minor, a teenager, a boy who’s basically just coming to grips with himself. When and if his cover is blown by the blogosphere and, God forbid, the media, only he will end up as the major casualty.
The Controversy
Actually, before Yuga and other influential Filipino bloggers discussed about them, tons of bloggers were already talking about Carl, his father and the blog. And most of them believed that the real blogger of that blog is not the 13-year old son, but his father.
Well. They have reasons to think that way:
- Most of the post of the said blog are written professionally. If you’ll read the posts on that blog, you can immediately say that the writer is not a 13-year old kid, but a blogger who is more knowledgeable in blogging, e-marketing and SEO, and who is not idiot like me.
- The marketing and SEO ideas applied into that blog are not the ideas of a normal Filipino 13-year old kid, except if the kid is really genius.
- The way Carl talked on his recorded video as he picked the winners of one of his blog contests is not consistent with the way the posts on the blog are written.
The problems
Some of these bloggers who are wondering about the real blogger behind the said blog, are thinking that some foul acts are already happening between the father and son blogging relationship.
Is there any problem if the real blogger behind the blog of the 13-year old kid is the father? I don’t think so. Every blogger can hire ghost blogger just to come up with articles that can be posted on the blog.
It might be true that blogging as if you’re someone is a kind of deception, but it’s just normal in the blogosphere. I once blog as if I am somebody, just like what I told you in my previous post, and tons of bloggers are doing this. Some blog as if they’re their wife, their girlfriend, or their parents. Some blog as if they are expert. And some blog as if they’re great.
Is there any problem if the father force his kid to blog? I don’t think so. Even if it’s true that the father forced the 13-year old kid to blog, I am not thinking anything wrong with it.
My father once forced me to do the carpentry but I wasn’t thinking that what my father did was an abuse. My father once forced me to study music notes, play guitar and electronic organ, but I wasn’t thinking that my father is exploiting me. Sometimes, you need to force your kid to do something in order for him to learn.
What should we do?
Well, if you think that the way the blog of the 13-year old kid was managed is not acceptable, then continue complaining about it so that Carl, his father and the blog will continue to earn more popularity not only in the Philippine blogosphere but also in the Western side of the world.
But I think, the best thing that we should do is to learn lessons from the blog and from Carl himself.
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Comments
13 Responses to “The Controversy on the Blog of a 13-year Old Kid”
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[...] a controversy. Yes! I’s one of the ways so that other will talk about you. The 13-year old kid blogger is quite successful on [...]
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[...] people who are not well skilled, not talented in making money online and are the opposite of the 13-year old Filipino blogger or the Pinay Scandal founder (lol) but are making money well online. Their income is even higher [...]
Great points,
You know… If you look at it in a positive side, it’s actually inspiring because they said that the posts I made in my blog are too “professional” for my age.
Made me smile anyway
Thanks SEL
you’re welcome Kid. thanks for visiting me here too.
To answer your first problem, just because writing as if you’re someone else is normal doesn’t mean that every case of misrepresented blogging is acceptable. Your logic is flawed. To cite one example, let’s say somebody hacked the official Google Blog and the hacker said that Google will acquire XYZ Corp. next week. Hundreds of investors then buy stocks from XYZ. XYZ stocks go up. Hacker then sells his pre-bought stocks for a profit. Then Google discovers the hacking and issues a statement. The investors then become victims of this misrepresented blogging.
To answer your second problem, again, just because some cases of parental forcing is beneficial for the kid does not mean that every case of forcing is beneficial. Your logic, if supported only by your forcing examples (e.g., carpentry) is flawed, because I can cite other forcing example that are clearly wrong: like a parent forcing a child to beg for alms.
Now the question is: if there was an adult pretending to be a nonexistent 12-year old problogger writing about making money online (I’m making this example different from Carl’s supposed situation but similar enough to gain insight), is this particular case of misrepresentation wrong? I would argue that it is wrong because the precise reason why this hypothetical blog becomes popular is because readers think that it was a real 12-year old giving money-making advice. The pretending adult is cashing in on people’s mistaken belief.
As to the second problem, a parent forcing a child to blog is not always acceptable. It depends on the circumstances. If the kid doesn’t want to blog or doesn’t enjoy blogging, then it’s usually harmful, just like we frown on parents forcing their kids to take up medicine/law when the kid wants to take up fine arts. If the parent is forcing the kid to blog and the blog earns lots of money for the family, it’s bordering on child labor (only the courts can say for sure).
I’m not saying that Alan is forcing Carl to blog or that Alan is writing for Carl, but the points I mentioned above are why several people think Carl’s situation might be wrong.
The problem now is, people jumped to conclusions based only on a few observations and pieces of evidence.
thanks for visiting. anyway, i am not a lawyer, i don’t even master English and Communication, and i am idiot in logic…
however,
1. I noticed that your example for misrepresented blogging, the case of the hacker of the Google blog and the case of the 13-year old kid are very much different. I suggest you give us similar example to convince me that ghost blogging (in the case of the blog of the 13-year old) is bad.
2. Again, your example in forcing a child to ask for alm and the case of the 13-year old blogger are very much different. Give me similar example (in the case of the 13 year old blogger) that will convince me that forcing a 13 year old kid to blog is bad.
Well, it is true that one thing can lead you to either of the two different ways. Just like a stone… it can help you succeed, but it can also lead you to your death.
However, I think that the Father’s role in a blog of a 13 year old blogger is not bad at all.
thanks for visiting my site and reading my post on the kid blogger.you have pointed out that my blog has 50 or so unique hits a day, but i do not tend to look at these things, i have had my blog for more than three years now or so and the number of hits is not really an issue for me. I am not afraid of carl ocab, sheesh, i just didn’t want to link to his site to make a point. although i may have linked back to yuga’s post, it was to reference the issue which i was talking about.
I am not against the kid, nor have i chosen to take a side for the issue at hand, i was simply advocating that we leave them alone.
you did get my point there?
oh, and by the way, its not antonista, it’s anton deleon to you.
<p>thanks for visiting me here. Sorry for calling you Antonista. Your blog’s subdomain is Antonisat and I found it wonderful to call your blog Antonista… because you’re anton and your sub domain is Antonisat… then your blog must be antonista.
</p>
<p>About your point, well… get it. I just mentioned you above because you wrote this at your blog:</p>
<p>”I am not going to link to his site because i will only make him famous…err…more famous that is.”</p>
My hacking and alms-begging examples have nothing to directly do with the Ocab issue. I just stated these to point out that your two arguments are flawed:
Argument #1: Blogging as if you’re somebody else is normal, therefore Alan Ocab writing as if he were Carl Ocab is part of the norm and is not wrong.
Argument #2: A parent forcing a child to do something can be beneficial, therefore Alan Ocab forcing Carl Ocab to blog is not wrong.
Those arguments are how I interpreted the last part of your blog post. And my hacking and alms-begging examples serve as counterexamples to the arguments. To state it logically:
Rebuttal #1: Just because something is normal, it does not follow that every case of misrepresented blogging in general or the Ocab issue in particular is not wrong.
Rebuttal #2: Just because forcing a child to do something may be beneficial to the child, it does not follow that forcing Carl Ocab to blog is beneficial as well.
Did you get my point?
You asked for an example similar to Carl’s supposed situation. Please read the third paragraph in my first comment (the one about the supposed 12-year old blogger). That example illustrates one of the several reasons why Carl’s supposed situation is wrong. The premise is this: Earning money through deception is wrong. So for the Ocab issue: Alan Ocab writing for Carl Ocab is deception. They are earning money from the popular blog which became popular because it was supposedly a real 13-year old blogging about making money. Therefore the deception is wrong. Now, can you see why the Ocab’s issue may be wrong? That’s how some people thought the situation is and why they cried foul.
I couldn’t agree more Eugene in referrence to Argument 2. Persuading/Encouraging a child to do something is fine but forcing a child to do something is another matter.
However, with regards to blogging, it’s entirely upto that person if the blogger decides to remain anonymous by using codenames or whatever. What’s completely and utterly wrong, is to impersonate a real person, in the case of Carl, “if” the father is the real blogger but using his son’s name (with referrence to selaplana’s blog above).
Eugene >>> you have points but i still believe that ghost blogging is not at all time bad. With regards to the term force, well I am just idiot to use the term FORCE and I think, Pinoy’s point is right.
Pinoy >>> thanks for visiting me here.
My pleasure. It was something that sparked my interest to comment so i did. Anyway, i get the chance to post my website as well. Thanks for allowing that as well.
Cheers.
you’re welcome… and i am signing up an account at your site….