EXPOSED. Et tu, MUCKRACK .com?

[Mel Hopkins]

I found my aalbc.com forum entries on  muckrackdotcomforwardslashmelhyphenhopkins  Now this wouldn't be a problem if I took the time to proofread, fact check (ok, I do) and format my comments- but I take a more casual approach when I post here.

Further, I don't expect someone to use my aalbc comments as a sample of my published writing.   BUT   Muckrack dot com is also a content aggregation website that collects articles written by journalists.  

The LinkedIN MuckRack dot com company page states it's a public relations management platform tool offered to PR professionals who want to pitch to journalists.  Now this is a great business model, as it saves time for both journalists and publicists.  But aggregation websites like this make journalist the product and PR professionals as the customer. 

 

• "Muck Rack is also the solution of choice for journalists, who use Muck Rack’s free, automatically updated portfolios to showcase their work and to provide information about what stories they’re looking for." ~Muck Rack on LinkedIN

 

Yes, Muck Rack compensates writers and journalists by providing them with an online portfolio of their work - but you have to sign up for the service if you want to curate your best work. 

 

So, if I don't want my aalbc forum posts on muckrack - I would  have to sign up and I'm kind of tired of all these online accounts.  

 

Anyway, all this to say, if you're a writer, check to see if your work is on muck rack.  Maybe you'll welcome the exposure for your writing career AND it will give you exposure to journalist too. 
 

[Troy]

Yeah, I'm on there too "Troy-Johnson." I can't image any entity vetting a journalist using this site.  I would not sign up for an account.  It is purely a scrapper site and not a very good one.

 

That said, the site gets a lot of traffic with an tremendous amount of growth this year alone.  It pulled in a ton of traffic racking on the search term "MSN"

 

It is impossible to curate your online presence, having to pay a site to do it is the same as paying a ransom.

 

While I'm occasionally paid to write, my livelihood does not dependent upon it.  Indeed I pay others more to write than I personally make from writing and I do not need to check muckrake to see what the people I pay have written.