Mashable fears paid blogger posts
Thanks you for visiting. Please consider subscribing to the RSS feed.
Stan Schroeder writes at Mashable:
Paid blogger postsPayPerPost
What is it?
Companies like PayPerPost and ReviewMe have established marketplaces for paid blog posts. If you’re an advertiser, you request a paid post from a blogger, based on the price that depends on the popularity of the blog. If you’re a blogger, you can take on this offer, and write a post about whatever the company in question wanted. It’s all nice and dandy if there’s disclosure, but some companies in this space have been quite vague when it comes to disclosure.
Why you should fear it?
It’s not that bloggers making an extra buck will actually hurt you in any way. But, thinking of the blogging landscape from a couple of years ago, when such practice was blasphemy, and comparing it to the future in which - possibly - most of the small blogs are actually just cheap advertising vehicles for big companies, well, that’s not an entirely positive future.
In responding to an argument this airtight [cough], I wasn’t sure what tone I should take. I decided on the following:
Pageflakes pays Mashable $1400/week for a 125 x 125 ad. Here’s a couple posts at Mashable about Pageflakes, complete with disclosure:
PageFlakes 2.0 - The Netvibes Killer?
Pageflakes Prepares “Blizzard”, Becoming A Social Network
One Pageflakes is happy about, one Pageflakes is supposedly not happy about. How is this different from a paid post done with disclosure (all of mine are done in-post) under the condition of neutrality, or done in a positive light because the author truly likes the offering?
The price. That’s the only difference.
EDIT: I’m a dope. I missed the key statement:
most of the small blogs are actually just cheap advertising vehicles for big companies, well, that’s not an entirely positive future.
Not a positive development for the folks getting $1400/week for a 125 x 125 ad.
Hey, I don’t begrudge anyone for making as much as they can. But a little intellectual honesty would be a good thing in this debate. You can’t have it both ways.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment