Advertisers, there is a right way and a wrong way to use comments to build buzz
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Occasionally, bloggers will get a visit from the advertisers that provide opportunities in the various marketplaces, thanking us for taking their review or for the quality of the job performed. Most of us appreciate and welcome these comments.
A few days ago, I wrote about the movie "Eye of the Dolphin", brokered through the PayPerPost marketplace. Earlier this evening, I received two comments that just seemed a little ‘off’. I wasn’t able to explain why. If you’ve ever read the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, you might remember that the premise of the book is that people make fast decisions on a subconscious level and used an example of an art forgery that passed through all sorts of checks and went on display, only to be spotted by art lovers as a fake within seconds of display.
That’s how I felt looking at these comments.
Looking closer, I realized neither had left links in their names, something that is VERY unusual, at least on my blogs. Each appeared to be written in the same voice, although that could have been coincidental. But, I decided to throw the question out on the PPP forum and several other people revealed they received similar comments.
So, I checked my visitor logs (yes, advertisers, we have logs and some of us are anal enough to review them - after all, it’s in everyone’s best interest if we improve our blogs). IP 74.7.70.29 visited at 5:31 and left a comment at 5:33, then visited again at 7:41 and left a comment at 7:43. IP 74.7.70.30, who I assume sits at the next desk, visited at 7:35 and tried to comment at 7:36, but the comment didn’t post.
So, here’s the thing: I just think it’s a little underhanded to try to drive buzz in this manner. I would have LOVED if someone associated with the movie had come by and left a note telling me I did a good job, and wouldn’t have been happy (but would have appreciated) if they left a note saying, gee, we wish you’d have done xyz better. I would have really loved if they’d offered to have an open discussion about the movie in the comments of the post. Please, feel free to engage us openly.
I’m just speaking for myself here, because I know some people like comments regardless of their source because it helps drive discussion and traffic. But, there are also bloggers, PROMINENT bloggers, that have admitted to falsifying comments to make it appear their blog had relevance earlier than it would have naturally. That is what this feels like to me. It’s contrived. It feels like an end-around. Our readers are not stupid. We’ve told them we do paid posts, and some simply skip those posts, while other will read them as carefully as our unpaid posts because of the credibility we’ve built over the years.
Advertisers: When you try to take shortcuts like this to build buzz, you’re damaging OUR credibility - mine and your own. Please don’t do this. By all means, drop by, comment, add to the discussion, but please be transparent.
It should be noted that some bloggers will not agree with me. Their blog, their business. This is just my opinion. But, my money is on some pretty closely matching IP addresses for the commenters on some of these blogs.
Eye of the dolphin paid posts with comments. Some are legitimate comments. Some are not. Judge for yourself:
My thoughts, Ideas, & Ramblings
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Comments
I have gotten the same types of comments on the posts I wrote on “Eye of the Dolphin”. In fact, I knew something was up when I got more comments on these posts than is normal for any of my other posts.
I am so glad you posted the IP addresses. It prompted me to check the comment I got, and the IP address is 74.7.70.29, which matches one of your comments.
What a shame someone felt the need to bring down the integrity of my blog by doing that. Where’s THEIR disclosure policy?
I got a couple of comments on my Eye of the Dolphin post as well and, like you, I just knew there was something “off” about them.