Kent Newsome on technology, music and life

10/08/2006


Pay Per Post - The New Spam?

Stowe notes that Jason Calacanis didn't ask him for his opinion on the ridiculous pay per post business and then gives his opinion anyway.  Good for Stowe, as he has a long track record of (mostly) finding the right side of an argument.

Jason didn't ask me either, but like Stowe, I'm always interested in adding my two cents, and here it is.  All you need to know about this pay per post nonsense.

When someone is engaging you solely in the hopes of making money, then the entire basis for a meaningful exchange of information is nullified.  No one trusts people who are trying to sell them something, and no one should.  There is an irreconcilable conflict of motives.

When you walk into a store, you, in effect, are inviting the people who work there to try to sell you something.

But when your so-called friends try to leverage off of your friendship to sell you tupperware or Mary Kay or whatever, you have not invited that selling opportunity.

When you fire up your email and some dumbass somewhere has sent you spam, you have not invited that selling opportunity.

When a blogger you read posts about something for pay, you have not invited that selling opportunity.  It's even worse when the payment is not diclosed.

This pay per post business is the worst of both worlds.  It's using a preexisting relationship to make money off of you, without even telling you.

Even the friend hawking tupperware has to eventually show his hand.  It seems that the pay per post folks can hide their motives- thereby disguising commerce as journalism.

So ask yourself...

So what do you want the blogosphere to be, a place for the open exchange of ideas and information where no one is secretly trying to make money off of you, or an online free-for-all where anonymous people are paid to write bullshit they may or may not believe in exchange for a buck?

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Posted by Kent @ 10/08/2006 06:39:00 PM | Permalink

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3 Comment(s):

"a place for the open exchange of ideas and information where no one is secretly trying to make money off of you, ..."

Huh? It's already a place where the A-list is trying to make money off you, from selling dreams of pundit-power to data-mining to hype marketing.

Sure, pay-per-post is tawdry, it's low-class stuff. But is it any different in the abstract from the demagogues and the "consultants" aka multi-level-marketing schemers?

By Blogger Seth Finkelstein, at 10/08/2006 11:10 PM  
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The difference I see is that while a consultant may be stumping for potential or actual clients, you can generally spot a consultant. Plus, the good ones disclose any relevant relationships. Steve Rubel, for example, always discloses relationships between his firm and the companies he mentions.

In fact, anyone who writes about topics related to his or her job is directly or indirectly casting lines into the client pool. That's inevitable.

But a pay per poster is pretending to post for one purpose while secretly getting paid by an undisclosed source to pimp a product, etc.

Granted, I'd prefer a blogosphere where no one was chasing the dollar, but I know I can't have that.

So I'll settle for disclosure.

It's not the brightest line in the world, but it's one I see as relevant and achievable.

By Blogger Kent, at 10/08/2006 11:30 PM  
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I'm going to disagree that this Pay Per Post concept is nonsense.

I just learned about it today, and saw this blog on the first page, so I figured I'd take a look.

It's simple economics, really. Advertisers want a part of the blogosphere and are willing to pay. (demand). Bloggers have sites (supply) and in return for monetary considerations will review or post about your site.

I will agree with you though, about disclosure. This concept probably should require disclosure that they are receiving payment for their review.

Just because a person blogs doesn't mean they should support some socialistic utopian societ where no one tries to make money and everyone just writes for the good of mankind.

By Anonymous Gary Ruplinger, at 2/09/2007 6:31 PM  
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