DISQUS

Mashable - The Social Media Guide: 2006/06/30/payperpost-bribes-bloggers-for-posts/

  • Nathan Rutman · 3 years ago
    But look how happy everyone is on their homepage. Surely PayPerPost is the secret to my happiness as well!
  • Pete Cashmore · 3 years ago
    Nathan,

    Good point. I see no flaw in your reasoning.
  • Gerald · 3 years ago
    Really though, I woudl not mind seeing this. I would write a post explaining that I will be doing this, and I would only post reviews for products I felt warranted one. If it was not on this site I woudl still post the review and not get paid, but if I find a product I liek on this site and review it, is it so bad to get paid?
  • Justin · 3 years ago
    Did they bribe you to write about them? I certainly hope so, any press is good press. You should have not even bothered.
  • Christian · 3 years ago
    The do have a spot for Spiderman 3. I was going to blog about it anyway, why not get paid for it?
  • Ted · 3 years ago
    As long as it's clear in the post that it's a paid advertisement, there is nothing unethical about this. I certainly wouldn't do it, but it's not a big deal as long as posts are clearly marked.
  • David G · 3 years ago
    I'm with Ted on this; the off-line analog here is those radio spots that have the DJ read the ad-copy. If a blogger decides it's OK to have ads on their blog, then why not these ads?

    If your primary goal in blogging is to grow an audience, then you've already sold out - and your content is already biased - you are already thinking twice about what you write - the only question is how you monetize that audience. Note: I'm not saying that selling out is a bad thing - many bloggers need a money-motive to keep dishing out the goods. Selling out is a minor price to pay for being rewarded for pursuing your passions - if you do it obviously, you can easily retain your integrity.

    Is this the best way to monetize a good blog? Probably not - I'd far rather go the ether route and use my cache to pull in some consulting revenues. ;-)
  • David G · 3 years ago
    PS - and it seems to pay better (per post) than a gig at weblogsinc. does - of the many ways bloggers can sell out, there are worse examples than this.
  • Harry T · 3 years ago
    This looks like the JigSaw controversy that we saw a month ago.
  • Saleel · 3 years ago
    I dunno, I think the first hurdle for this company is to pay bloggers to blog favorably about itself.
  • Pete Cashmore · 3 years ago
    Saleel,

    LOL!
  • Pete Cashmore · 3 years ago
    David,

    Content and ads should be separate - simple as that. If there's any money involved, that should be disclosed (PayPerPost doesn't require disclosures at all).
  • joey · 3 years ago
    Why give this place the press?
  • steve · 3 years ago
    advertising is everywhere, even right now on every blog out there - banenr ads or buzz campaigns. stupid? maybe. evil? no. that's like saying it's evil for coke to pay american idol to have simon sip on a huge glasss of soda in front of the camera ... i know that people will hat eme for saying this, but bloggers aren't the end all, be all of bulletproof media. drive down any street and see an advertisement, it's just how a capitalistic society works and the internet (blogs or no blogs) isn't any ddifferent.
  • pwb · 3 years ago
    Since when is being paid to do something "totally unethical"?
  • Pete Cashmore · 3 years ago
    pwb,

    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.
  • tayo · 2 years ago
    their some technical question i will want you to answer for me immidiately, is that are we all destined to face the bad side of life or is it written that every unwilling mistakes is accepted with fate and every unwanted death of innocents souls is based on their destiny. i need a contract and support to publish my articles, stories and essays.
  • alex · 2 years ago
    As a small business owner, I have looked a lot of places to get my name out.

    Among the many choices, the PPP program came up. I haven't yet used it, but I am considering it.

    I am actually surprised to see that there is negative reaction to it, because nobody is forcing anybody to post.

    As others have stated, you would only review stuff you wanted to, right?

    I signed up for an advertising account and saw who was advertising what. There were legit ads telling people about new phones and cool techy stuff, and there were the "preditory advertisers" that try to get you to re-fi your house or grow inches naturally.

    Well... if you're the type of person who is cool with posting about penis enlargement or enabling predatory lending, chances are that you won't have a big following. On the other hand, if you like talking about cool stuff, then what's the big deal?

    Most advertisers, it seems, only require that you have a link to their site and mention who they are. It's your choice.

    This isn't a whole lot different than riddling your blog with Pay-per-click ads and banners is it? That -in some cases- can get more intrusive and tacky, in my opinion.

    The point is this: It's up to you to say yes or no to the offer. If you are a blogger with integrity and a following, chances are, you won't endorse anything that doesn't fit your content, nor will you endorse something you don't believe in.

    Again, I haven't used the services yet, because I wanted to see what people thought of it.
  • Odysseas · 2 years ago
    Nice...
  • eric · 2 years ago
    I was personally cheated by Ted Murphy.

    He sent me an email justifying why he did what he did, and offered to send me a package of some sort to make up for it.

    www.blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com

    Type in Ted Murphy.

    eric