I am always nervous when we collectively jump in line to crown the “it” blogger of the moment. Nevertheless, these are the times we live in. So when the usually snooty Economist takes note of 14-year-old Tavi Gevinson, it stirred the coals of conversation regarding bloggers and what their impact truly is.
Gevinson, for those of you who haven’t heard, is today’s “it” blogger. What makes Gevinson interesting is that, at 14, she has managed to secure herself as one of the blogosphere’s most-talked-about personalities. The kid writes the highly read and mildly banal StyleRookie blog. She blathers on about her favorite magazines and which designers inspire with a tone the Hannah Montana set never could identify with. Gevinson is a savvy marketer and quite good at PR. She was the talk of last year’s Fashion Week. In Paris, the little moppet apparently ruffled the feathers of fashion warlord Anna Wintour when she got better seats than her at a show. The industry, suffice it to say, has taken notice of Gevinson, though the verdict is uniformly split. On one hand, the Gen Y set applauds the girl’s moxie. After all, she did all of this in her room with her computer. Reportedly, her folks didn’t even know what their little darling was up to until The New York Times called. On the other hand, seasoned fashion writers and designers see her as a gimmick and a joke.
Love her or loathe her, Gevinson is proving that blogging is alive and well. Gevinson, in my opinion, while sometimes a cringe-inducing writer, is a kid armed with today’s proper bogging publicity tools. She’s part of the Perez Era — she knows how to play the game and wind up on the front page. Gevinson should be applauded for zeroing in on the power of blogging. Mainly, blogs like StyleRookie as well as our small business blogs are invaluable marketing tools for building a brand. The best part about marketing through blogging? It’s so easy, even a kid can do it!
