The Difference Between Bloggers and Influencers, Plus 2 Chambray Styles for Summer

There seems to be a lot of confusion around the term blogger and influencer lately. These terms are thrown around to anyone who has an instagram account. However, there are a few key components that make up these terms and they shouldn’t be thrown around so lightly. I’m comparing bloggers vs influencers in this post to settle the debate!

There are so many “bloggers” and “influencers” in this space, which honestly I think is so great, but I think we really need to understand what these things mean.

Influencers vs Bloggers

Google defines and influencer and blogger as:
​​​​​​​Influencer- “A person or thing that influences another.”
Blogger- “A person who regularly writes material for a blog.”

The term influencer is a newer one, most often associated with Instagrammers. However, just because you have an instagram, doesn’t make you an influencer. You have to have actual influence over people’s decisions. Follower count has nothing to do with it except for the number of people you may have influence over. This isn’t something that is to be taken lightly. You have a voice and you should be using it to promote things you care about. If you are an influencer, you can spread awareness about charities or world problems, encourage people to vote, or you can ignore all of the issues. .

Influencers can still be bloggers, and bloggers can be influencers, but the biggest differentiator is the actual blog. Neither is right or wrong, better or worse because it’s all personal preference.

What I do have an issue with, is people who call themselves bloggers when they don’t post on thier website regularly. Or they only post sponsored content in conjunction with Instagram campaigns. Is anyone even reading that? A blog full of paid content presumably because it was part of a package deal which they could charge more for the 300 words is not a blog that I want to read. Granted, I blame the brands for hiring these people to write the content in the first place, far be it for be to suggest you not take money that’s being offered, I would. I don’t mean this to be harsh, but just call a spade a spade and be an Instagram Influencer. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!

Am I a Blogger or an Influencer?

​​​​​​​Personally, I identify more with the term blogger. I actually enjoy writing and coming up with new ideas for posts. It was fun editing my template to “design” my own website. I love that I have my own space on the internet unaffected by a constantly changing algorithm.

My friend Amanda of Glitter and Spice was part of the inspiration to this mindset shift, because she writes amazing content and crazy long posts. I love how she kills it with both her blog and her full time job and manages to have fun all at the same time. The other part was that Instagram is driving me crazy. I used to feel that if I created great content I would be seen, but I feel lke my content is better than ever and my reach is ever-declining. In order to keep my sanity, I needed to get back to my creative outlet. (A creative outlet for my creative outlet? *eye roll*)

I knew I wanted to be a blogger since I first started following Atlantic-Pacific’s blog in college. I loved how Blair posted amazing outfit inspiration every day. I looked to her for outfit inspiration and loved checking her posts daily. When I started blogging, I didn’t want it to be a job, I had no idea you could even make money with it, and I had no idea about the “free stuff”. I just wanted to inspire people as she was an inspiration to me.

Throughout my life I have probably had around 7 blogs starting with tumblr re-blogging pretty photos, to logging my trip abroad, to dirty mirror selfies of my daily work outfits after college. I finally figured it out, and Running in Heels happened. However, at that point, the actual blog took a step back because Instagram was the new place for influencers.

Two Chambray Styles

Speaking of Amanda, we are collaborating on this post! One day recently I was chatting with her and I told her I liked her dress. She told me where it was from and I laughed. I knew if I walked into the same store I would come out in a completely different look. So, we decided to share two styles of the same top, from the same store!

We chose LOFT because it is one of the stores where we both shop. They have many different styles and happened to be on sale at the time we were deciding. LOFT is on my list of stores to get the best deals!

I’m not actually sure why we chose this top, but I was happy to buy it. My favorite chambray from this post had tons of holes in it. It was old, it had a good life, but it needed to be replaced. To be honest, I thought our outfits would be more different. Somehow we both ended up in shorts with our chambray tops! Such is the weather in Dallas in the springtime.

The chambray is super soft and I love how lightweight it is. It will be perfect for layering this spring and summer! Shop my whole look below and click over to Amanda’s blog to see her post!

Shop My Look

Shop Amanda’s Look