When Rebecca Bollwitt started her blog, it was more like an online personal diary. There really was no goal, she says. It was to write about my day, the shows I watched, the music I listened to
The year was 2004. There were only two other bloggers in Vancouver, plus musician Matthew Good, and Bollwitt laughs when she says her mother was her primary fan (and reader.)
Today, Bollwitts mother is still an avid follower of Miss 604 along with the roughly 5,000 other people a day who visit Bollwitts popular blog or have signed up for her RSS feed, not to mention the 40,100 people who follow her every move on Twitter.
Miss 604 has become one of Vancouvers go-to bloggers and her enthusiasm for all things Vancouver has helped earn her the gold medal as Vancouvers Best Blogger in WE Vancouvers Best of the City readers survey.
In a city where there are hundreds of bloggers sharing their thoughts and activities, Miss 604 stands out. Shes informed, informative and seems to know every corner of this city and beyond. Shes not so much Vancouvers cheerleader but more of the enthusiast who shows her love of the city by embracing many of the activities it has to offer.
She says that when it comes to blogging, you get what you give. If youre snarky, youll get snarky back. If you rant, youll get rants in return. She doesnt want such negative energy in her life, and certainly not recorded for all time on the internet.
Of course, the blog has evolved from that early diary. The focus is not Oh, look at me, look at what Im doing, she says. Im writing about what other people can do.
I write about things my mom can talk about at her office. Its for people who want to get out and about and dont necessarily want to spend a lot of money.
As the sites popularity surged, Bollwitt was going to so many events that she was rarely at home. She had two choices: she could either try to be omnipresent, tweeting at all hours of the day and weekends, or she could carve out a niche that allowed her to be Miss 604 as a full-time job and yet spend time with her husband John (with whom she co-owns Sixty4Media.com.)
She opted for balance. Today, she basically turns her computer off at five and on weekends occasionally tweets photos of a beautiful walk she and John have just enjoyed.
As to the ethical debate about how honest bloggers should be about the perks that can come with being invited to write about events, food and various products, Bollwitt says, My readers have helped keep me accountable. They are really smart and wanted me to have disclosures. As long as youre up front about it and say Im writing about this vehicle because I was given it for a week theyre fine. I dont want to piss my readers off.
Judging by her success in Best of the City, shes a long way from doing that.
