The Internet allows us to do everything faster, which can be a good and a bad thing. I’m honored to be part of Amazon.com’s Vine, which is a program for top reviewers to write about new books and products. I get lots of cool, free stuff and all I have to do is write a review about what I get. I love to write, so what’s not to like about this. It’s great to get the newest books, but even better to get free exercise stuff and electronics. The only bad thing about the electronics is that everyone wants these, so when the Vine newsletter comes out, you have to be pretty quick with your mouse.
The latest Vine newsletter was awesome – should I get the Bluetooth? the Fit Bit that syncs with a smartphone? Or a back-up hard drive? Well, since my little TracFone doesn’t work with Bluetooth and is the farthest thing from a smartphone, I had to choose the hard drive. At least I know what a hard drive is, although I have no clue how to use one for back up. (For those non-technical folks, Bluetooth is a wireless technology that is used with cell phones. Fit Bit is a nifty little gadget that tracks your steps, calories burned and food consumed.)
Enter my dear husband, who is a geek. I keep asking him where is his pocket protector. He couldn’t believe that I got such a product for free. As if I would tell a little lie about something like that; it’s not as though I ordered some new clothes or some new exercise DVDs.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the hard drive arrived. It wasn’t something weird that could only be used with Apple products or anything.
How many times do we do something or choose something without much thought, just because it’s there? I didn’t have to choose any products, but I wanted to choose something because it was free. Mmmm, maybe next time I will put more thought in to my actions.
So, have you ever had a point, click and oops?
Nancy Loderick's Blog 
Ralph
October 2, 2013
Point. Click. Oops. Finger over the lens 😳 Happy Wednesday Nancy !! Ralph xox 😀
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Nancy Loderick
October 2, 2013
Dear friend Ralph,
Ha ha! Thanks for my laugh today. 🙂
Nancy
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Ken Loderick
October 2, 2013
I also couldn’t believe that you got that nice external hard drive for free! It works great for backups.
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Nancy Loderick
October 2, 2013
Hey Mr. Ken,
Yes, this hard drive was the neatest thing I’ve received from Amazon Vine. I just wish I could get more free exercise DVDs. You know, I can never have too many of those. 🙂
Nancy
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Our Life In 3D
October 2, 2013
Free offers in the mail (and later the Internet) used to get me all the time. It took me a few year to realize there is always a catch. I must have been the worldwide ‘gullable’ list. Yours sounds like a good prize though.
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Nancy Loderick
October 2, 2013
Hi,
I think we all get taken in by the word “free.” But you are right, there is always a catch. I had to write a lot of reviews and have a lot of people consider them helpful before I was invited into Vine. Now, with the free stuff, I have to write a review of the stuff I get. I could choose not to write a review, but then I couldn’t get any more free stuff. The good thing is that I can choose what I want to receive and I am pretty good at choosing things that I know I will like.
Nancy
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Professor VJ Duke
October 2, 2013
That’s pretty neat. Do they send you free books?
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Nancy Loderick
October 2, 2013
Hey Professor!
A very apt question – just the sort of thing a professor would ask. 🙂 In all the excitement of talking about the free gadgets, I forgot to mention the free books. I get lots of free books too! The competition for these isn’t as keen, mainly because there are so many books offered.
Nancy
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Professor VJ Duke
October 3, 2013
😀 That’s really neat. Do you know any other members?
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Nancy Loderick
October 3, 2013
Hey Professor,
No, I don’t. There is a pretty active VINE forum, which I peruse, but I have yet to participate.
N
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alycevayle
October 2, 2013
Great post, nancy.
The vine sounds like an interesting thing / how did you get into it? What do you love about reviewing? I laughed out loud when I read about your hubby’s pocket protector!
X Alyce
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Nancy Loderick
October 3, 2013
Hi Alyce,
Thanks for your comment. I was invited into the program by Amazon. I think they look at your statistics, e.g. how many reviews you’ve written, how many helpful votes you have on your reviews and the types of things you review. My niche is exercise DVDs – which have a lot of reviewers, but not a lot of good reviews. I also review business, marketing and technology books. Because of my interest in health and fitness, I get asked to review natural products and supplements too.
What do I like about reviewing? I love to write and doing these reviews definitely improves my writing skills. I have to think about my target audience and what they want to know about a product. I also like to be as specific as possible about why I liked or didn’t like a product. This is what I do with my marketing projects too, so it is a nice tie-in.
Of course, I love the opportunity to get free stuff – lol.
N
P.S. As for Mr. Ken’s pocket protector, I have yet to see it, but I’m sure he has it stashed away somewhere.
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louisamayalcatt
October 3, 2013
not just point and click oops, but shopping oops as well. the best cure for this is to host a yard sale and find yourself haggling with a stranger over whether you’re willing to drop the price from $2 to $1 for the gadget you paid $50 for. nice post, xo LMA
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Nancy Loderick
October 3, 2013
Hi Louisa,
Oh yes, love the shopping oops. Amazon.com has a $25.00 minimum order for free shipping and of course anything I want to order is $24.99. So, I have to always find something else to order so I get free shipping. 🙂
N
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louisamayalcatt
October 3, 2013
been there!
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MikeW
October 13, 2013
Nancy I’m adding you to my WordPress Community Blogroll. Way overdue!
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Nancy Loderick
October 14, 2013
Hi Mike,
Thanks so much. Speaking of Blog Rolls, I really should add this feature to my blog. Thanks for the reminder!
Nancy
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