What the Hell is... Flog?

May 4, 2008 12:00 AM

A flog is a blog that, on its surface, appears to be written by an average consumer or person, but is actually the stylized creation of a public relations firm or marketing department. In many ways it is an online extension of the concept of astroturfing.

Wal-Mart came under fire in 2006 for failing to disclose that it was funding Wal-Marting Across America, a flog that featured a couple traveling cross country in an RV and sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots. When it was discovered that the blog was the creation of the public relations firm Edelman, the backlash was swift and strong from the blogosphere where transparency is considered the first rule of the social media realm.

Blogs are a form of participatory journalism, and the risk a company runs in starting a flog is that the act will be seen as a violation of the reader's trust because the content is being misrepresented, a la James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.

Origin: The term flog was likely coined by designer Matthew Oliphant in February of 2005. Within a year it was being used regularly to refer to the Edelman-created blog, Wal-Marting Across America. The name flog is short for fake blog or "flack blog."

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