Library clips

PayPerPost is a service where bloggers check out the classifieds (bulletin board) and browse through lists of requests (opportunities), these are requests for paid product reviews.

Hear it from them:
“They are looking for people to write about Web sites, products and services in exchange for cash. Select the Opportunity that you are most interested in and review the requirements set forth by the advertiser.”

View the current opportunities.

I find this quite interesting, the blog space has advanced from advertising to actual paid editorial…it’s all bound to happen.

People may think I’m getting paid for some of my positive posts about particular web services, but that’s far from the truth, I haven’t made a cent out of blogging…I’d like to…I mentioned this very thing on, Blogging on commission…but my suggestion was instead of me looking for reviews, the requestors could approach me instead.
But I’d like to go through a middleman…my blog would be browsable in a categorised gallery, from which the requestor could choose my blog for their review. In turn the middleman can make a decision and say no on my behalf (as the middleman knows what I blog about), or I can just view all requests. But if you just get too many requests then the middleman’s filtering may be required.

The reason I posted on this once before is that I get lots of requests to check out new services, to test new services, be on advisory boards, and requests even like “…it would be good if you could blog about this”…after a while I feel like I’ve got a full-time job with “web 2.0″ in general.

So my post was about all the dedicated time for no monetary reward…I could be taking my partner dancing instead.

The argument is…just say I’m about to blog about a service I really liked, and before I published the post I came across this very same service in payperpost offering $10 for a post…do I do it for cash, ‘cause I’m just about to hit publish.’

I guess this system will work in an ideal friendly blogosphere, but people will be dishonest, with the money first, blog second attitude.

Another argument was that you don’t have to disclose that you have been paid to make this post, and also the company may request certain requirements in your content and tone.
Now with the example above I wouldn’t feel like I’m being paid to post even if I was, I’m posting anyway…if I don’t like the product I won’t post about it, it is as simple as that.
But not everyone is like this, people will post about stuff they don’t care about if there is a buck in it…not for me because I like to spend my time doing stuff I like.

Anyway I believe it may pollute the blogosphere, people will blog positive movie reviews just because they are getting paid, how am I going to sort out the dishonest posts from the real ones…will the blogosphere take me for a ride, just like mainstream media (MSM).
Next thing you will know it will be propaganda…I think the blogosphere is in a golden age, one day what was once the citizen outlet will be mixed with money driven content…will the blogosphere be corrupted?

I’m really on the fence with this one, for honest reasons payperpost works, but if people just think about money and don’t have respect, care, and love for the blogosphere they will ruin it.
People who have been a part of the blogosphere for a while (and not just that but in its infancy) have an affection for it, but someone who has just discovered it today may not care about it at all and start blogging for money for all the wrong reasons.

The BusinessWeek article really made a good point in saying that that promoting in post content is going to spread the dollar lots further as posts link to each other, posts appear in search results…this also has longevity as it is in the content itself.

That’s what scary, it’s not just an ad, it is actually the content…revenews certainly expresses their concern:
“So what happens when a “real” blogger uses this system? Without disclosure, it kills the blog, dead. And even with disclosure of an “ad”, they’re asking you to do the ulitmate no-no in blog advertising, which is to write the ad as if it is a blog entry. Not below the entry, not floating in the entry, but it IS the entry, disclosed or not.”

NOTE: Pay for post started off as the BlogStar Network…see more.

Look out for the weblogwire…a wire connecting companies and bloggers.

Also see TextLinkAds new service about ArticleLinks.

Here is an example of a paid post, they have disclosed that they were paid via payperpost…here’s an example of someone’s experience using payperpost.

The main posts driving this meme are:
Polluting the blogosphere
PayPerPost Isn’t Evil; It’s Just a Business
PayPerPost: Stupid and evil
PayPerPost - Paying Bloggers to Post
PayPerPost Bribes Bloggers for Positive Posts
PayPerPost.com offers to sell your soul
PayPerPost Will Taint Us All
MindComet launches Blogger Mercenary Program
Paid to Blog: Mountain or Molehill?

A comment in the TechCrunch post (which I have just noticed Marshall is part of the fold…his tone blends in nicely to the TechCrunch tune) from Ted Murphy the creator of PayPerPost suggests he will formalise this good vs. evil discussion.

He is also tempting people…and again.

Here are some opinions about the explicit monetisation of our blogosphere…

Pros

Comment - Web Strategy by Jeremiah
“It’s up to you to pick the Opportunities that best suit you. If it doesn’t feel right, if you don’t own the product, or if you can’t be honest we ask you to pass on the Opportunity.”

…this is good in theory.

Comment - TechCrunch:
“What we are trying to do is offer people a way to make some money talking about the things they would already be talking about. See a TV show you like? Were you going to blog about how much you like it anyway? See if it is on payperpost and get a few bucks for your time. You are being true to yourself, you can be honest in your post and you now have a few bucks in your pocket…”

…again, this is good in theory.

Comment - TechCrunch:
“90% of the advertisers DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT - require the post be positive and we advise them to keep the opportunities neutral whenever possible. The blogger writes the post, the advertiser doesn’t tell them what to write. The advertiser simply provides the topic.

What is so wrong with getting paid for something you are doing anyway?”

Inkblots:

“The blogosphere doesn’t have “general credibility” to be torpedoed. The mainstream media doesn’t take you, as a blogger, seriously, regardless of what list you are on.”

Mark Evans:
“Regardless of what camp you fall in to, blogging is just another communications medium, albeit one with low barriers to entry. To suggest bloggers have to act in a certain way to be “ethical” is wrong.”

Cons

calacanis.com:
“The currency of blogging is authenticity and trust… you pay folks to blog about a product and you compromise that.”

TechCrunch:
“There does not appear to be any requirement that the payment for coverage be disclosed. There is a requirement that PayPerPost.com must approve your post before you are paid.”

Web Strategy By Jeremiah:
“If you don’t fully disclose your affiliations when talking about a product, you run the risk of reducing credibility to providing truthful reviews about products or services to customers. And that’s wrong –very wrong.”

Comment - Web Strategy by Jeremiah:
“Very quickly, posts in the blogosphere pitching products are going to be scrutinized. Those of use who enjoy evangelizing products now have to add a stupid disclaimer to the post to make sure that our readers don’t thnk we’re paid shills for a company.

The beauty of the blogosphere is that free speech, spirit, and ideas can flow. I always knew that Marketers would figure out how to get involved, the risk however is corrupting the purity.”

Comment - TechCrunch:
“One of my biggest concerns is the credibility of the medium, and blogs already have a tough road ahead of them because of the absence of editorial oversight. Remember, for example, the MSM columnist who wrote glowingly about No Child Left Behind policies and was later found to be taking money from the Bush administration to write about the topic? Nobody here wants the blogosphere to deal with PR like that, do we?”

…too right, Marshall has an affection for the blogosphere at large…kind of like respecting the earth.

Comment - Mashable:
“Obviously getting paid to do something isn’t unethical. But getting paid to say something nice about a company without revealing that you’re getting paid to do so? That’s questionable to say the least. “

ProBlogger:
“while in their ‘get started page’ they do say that you shouldn’t accept opportunities to advertise if you don’t own the product or if you can’t be honest about it - I can see this system being open to abuse and shallow or dodgy reviews being made of products simply to fulfill the requirements to be paid.”

Loosewire:
” If you as a blogger love a product, it’s your lack of financial and professional link with the company behind that product that gives your opinion some weight. That’s why media exists — to pay a salary to people who act as a medium between company, government or individual and the public. The public buys the media product because they believe that what they’re reading/seeing/hearing has some credibility, some independence from the subject they’re covering. As soon as someone acting as a medium accepts money to promote one item, their credibility is shot, not only for that item, but every single other thing they discuss.”

Checkout the memetracker circuit:

TechMeme

megite

Chuquet, more here and here.
NOTE: Chuquet doesn’t cluster articles about the same thing that aren’t linking to each other…hence the 3 links I found…actually a way around this is by entering the term payperpost in the search box.

TailRank
NOTE: this is based around the BusinessWeek article…click on the permalink of any article in this stream to see more…I did this for a few and basically the same articles appear…actually just do a search for the term payperpost.

Alternatives

I guess the alternative to making money off blogs is through advertising or blogging for an editor eg. ZDnet.
Other avenues are ScooptWord, blogs on demand, and Topix.net Publisher Platform.
[NOTE: BlogBurst, and NewsCast don’t seem to directly generate money]
Check out the movement at Blogger Jobs, and the Blog Network Watch.

Some advertising avenues are: Blogads, FeedDirect, Adify, Feedburner Ad Network, AdBrite, Text Link Ads and Google AdWords…more.

Or try Six Figure Blogging…also see the ProBlogger blog in general for squeezing some blogging bucks.