Comments on: Blog posts for sale? http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/ Tom Raftery, social media consultant, speaker, blogger and podcaster Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:15:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Tom Raftery’s I.T. views » Blog Archive » Reasons for developing paid blog post ethics http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-1407 Tom Raftery’s I.T. views » Blog Archive » Reasons for developing paid blog post ethics Tue, 09 Aug 2005 15:27:48 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/#comment-1407 [...] In a couple of recent posts on this site (here and here) and on other sites (here, here and here), the issue of bloggers reviewing for reward has come up. Discussions have varied but most people seem to agree that if a blogger reviews an item but fails to reveal any benefit accruing to them for the review that there is an ethical problem there and that the bloggers readership are being mislead. [...] [...] In a couple of recent posts on this site (here and here) and on other sites (here, here and here), the issue of bloggers reviewing for reward has come up. Discussions have varied but most people seem to agree that if a blogger reviews an item but fails to reveal any benefit accruing to them for the review that there is an ethical problem there and that the bloggers readership are being mislead. [...]

]]> By: DL http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-1386 DL Mon, 08 Aug 2005 13:47:33 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/#comment-1386 Silicon Valley 100 was the most recent example, where reviews weren't disclosed. On the Connexion event, it's worth noting that if their system failed that's all you would've read about. We've been shipping product (Clip-n-Seal) to customers Ireland recently and would be happy to send it to bloggers for review, that's how we built our brand with blogs, in part, it's all transparent. When it's not transparent that's the problem Silicon Valley 100 was the most recent example, where reviews weren’t disclosed. On the Connexion event, it’s worth noting that if their system failed that’s all you would’ve read about.

We’ve been shipping product (Clip-n-Seal) to customers Ireland recently and would be happy to send it to bloggers for review, that’s how we built our brand with blogs, in part, it’s all transparent. When it’s not transparent that’s the problem

]]> By: fmk http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-1385 fmk Mon, 08 Aug 2005 12:35:23 +0000 http://www.tomrafteryit.net/blog-posts-for-sale/#comment-1385 higher standards for bloggers than for journos? tch! let's atleast get bloggers up to the same standard as journos before we start demanding more :) the product placement thing - any blogger that does it just for the sake of doing it is going to risk losing their audience, pretty quickly. those who do it as a natural consequence of what they do, they'll be fine. of course, it's not easy to do. it's easy to honestly review something you've paid your own money for, but when someone else is covering the cost, you've got some sort of obligation (especially if you want the cost to be covered again next time). and sometimes that obligation seems more important than your obligation to your readers. there was that story from earlier this year of the burger company paying rap stars to whore their product ( http://www.siglamag.com/blog/2005/05/02/tom-waits/ ) - interestingly, some in the industry think this is a short term gain for a long term loss ( http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1525213,00.html ) there was also a story a couple of weeks ago (can't remember where i read it) about product placement being used by theatreland to defray some of the expense of a play, sometimes in return for hard cash, more often as a quid-pro-quod advertising deal. some plays have even had their text change, dropping a generic term (eg whisky) for a specific brand. as with movies, when it's done badly it's too obvious, but when it's done with subtlety few people will complain. higher standards for bloggers than for journos? tch! let’s atleast get bloggers up to the same standard as journos before we start demanding more :)

the product placement thing - any blogger that does it just for the sake of doing it is going to risk losing their audience, pretty quickly. those who do it as a natural consequence of what they do, they’ll be fine. of course, it’s not easy to do. it’s easy to honestly review something you’ve paid your own money for, but when someone else is covering the cost, you’ve got some sort of obligation (especially if you want the cost to be covered again next time). and sometimes that obligation seems more important than your obligation to your readers.

there was that story from earlier this year of the burger company paying rap stars to whore their product ( http://www.siglamag.com/blog/2005/05/02/tom-waits/ ) - interestingly, some in the industry think this is a short term gain for a long term loss ( http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1525213,00.html )

there was also a story a couple of weeks ago (can’t remember where i read it) about product placement being used by theatreland to defray some of the expense of a play, sometimes in return for hard cash, more often as a quid-pro-quod advertising deal. some plays have even had their text change, dropping a generic term (eg whisky) for a specific brand.

as with movies, when it’s done badly it’s too obvious, but when it’s done with subtlety few people will complain.

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