Rodney, I don't believe the above comment is fair. I did not copy or steal any of your content.
In 2005 an employee of mine at the time passed off content very similar to your work as his own. I was not aware that the content was anything other than original work.
As soon as you notified me of the similarities I removed the content in question without challenge. The employee was subsequently let go.
It was unfortunate that this happened, but I believe I acted in a responsible manner when made aware of the situation.
Terra Andersen
· 1 year ago
Looks really interesting - I requested an invite. Looking forward to seeing it in action!
Nice coverage. I'm in the alpha and have enjoyed the AJAXify you reference -- so long as it scales.
As a member of most of the sponsored blogging networks and someone who has blogged, advertised and invested in PayPerPost, I think your Google reference missed a critical differentiator in SocialSpark.
GOOG's stated concern was with paid, pagerank-passing links. That position affects text link ads, sponsored links, affiliate links and even blatant thank-my-sponsor posts like those only recently no-followed by TechCrunch to preserve TC pagerank.
SocialSpark, however, is the first and only sponsored blogging network to require/verify 100% no-follow on sponsored links and 100% in-post disclosure. SocialSpark doesn't just require disclosure, it actually provides the industry's only disclosure auditing platform to ensure disclosure happens every time. This is great news for bloggers who haven't considered sponsored blogging before due to Google/disclosure fears, bloggers who fear GOOG penalty with other sponsored blogging companies like SponsoredReview/ReviewMe/PayU2Blog and advertisers who were missing tools to implement corporate/industry disclosure guidelines such as those proposed by Dell or WOMMA.
SocialSpark is the only social marketing network offering Google-approved and WOMMA-approved guidelines to sponsored posts. In fact, SocialSpark has private alpha keys welcoming those organizations to verify compliance.
Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
· 1 year ago
@VC Dan: I actually understand the theoretical reasoning behind Google's negative actions towards old PPP members, but some of the actualities of their actions were a bit disproportionate in their response, penalizing some folks who even mentioned they were in the PPP database, or folks that logged in and created an account without ever utilizing the system.
That said, from what you say and what I saw, SocialSpark doesn't engage in the type of activity that Google hates. My apprehension, warranted or not remains to be seen, is whether Google maintains a vendetta against IZEA stuff or if they'll just leave well enough alone since you folks seem to be complying with their wishes.
Facey Spacey Development
· 1 year ago
It seems to me that anything inorganic gets the thumbs down from Web 2.0 blogger these days--they're like "If it's not conversational marketing, and paid for, hmph! Forget it!"
I'm not saying that you're saying that here, Mark. But IZEA's tools are so often not well received by the blogging community they're meant to support. Often it seems like elite top bloggers make these assertions--and are people who don't really need the help of Pay Per Post, etc.
Ultimately, the point is that conversational marketing is well and good and all, but seeding or what i call "Social Seeding" is very important, and it requires serious money invested in inorganically creating activity on your blog/site that compels new users to also be active just in the fact that they see the site is worth something because other people see it being active...So I'm not against DOING WHAT YOU GOTTA DO at all. And I look forward to trying out Social Spark (if my invite email hadn't failed).
And for the record--I know people are gonna hate me for saying it--I think Zuckerberg's Beacon was a great idea, and it's only doing poorly because bloggers lambasted it...well, that's not true, it was executed poorly--the fact that they didn't ask you every time before it was submitted to your feed, as well as on a per site and universal basis, etc. However, their Fan Page advertisement system is great and renders great ROI for a savvy advertiser. I just wish they would get on top of these initiatives more and release them more professionally like google. Whatever...
Anyway, effective paid marketing tools that have a high ROI are COOL. That's my opinion.
Saw their presentation this week at BarCampOrlando, met Ted and his team and I really believe in what they are doing for the blogging community. All the big sites, TC and yours included have sponsored posts, so why can't the little guy make a paycheck from blogging and creating an audience? Not saying that you bashed the site, b/c you didn't but hey, I'll say my positive/negative opinion o a product that appeals to my audience and collect a nice check for it. Sounds sweet to me!
All Comments
I don't believe the above comment is fair. I did not copy or steal any of your content.
In 2005 an employee of mine at the time passed off content very similar to your work as his own. I was not aware that the content was anything other than original work.
As soon as you notified me of the similarities I removed the content in question without challenge. The employee was subsequently let go.
It was unfortunate that this happened, but I believe I acted in a responsible manner when made aware of the situation.
-Terra
http://www.betterforbusiness.com
Nice coverage. I'm in the alpha and have enjoyed the AJAXify you reference -- so long as it scales.
As a member of most of the sponsored blogging networks and someone who has blogged, advertised and invested in PayPerPost, I think your Google reference missed a critical differentiator in SocialSpark.
GOOG's stated concern was with paid, pagerank-passing links. That position affects text link ads, sponsored links, affiliate links and even blatant thank-my-sponsor posts like those only recently no-followed by TechCrunch to preserve TC pagerank.
SocialSpark, however, is the first and only sponsored blogging network to require/verify 100% no-follow on sponsored links and 100% in-post disclosure. SocialSpark doesn't just require disclosure, it actually provides the industry's only disclosure auditing platform to ensure disclosure happens every time. This is great news for bloggers who haven't considered sponsored blogging before due to Google/disclosure fears, bloggers who fear GOOG penalty with other sponsored blogging companies like SponsoredReview/ReviewMe/PayU2Blog and advertisers who were missing tools to implement corporate/industry disclosure guidelines such as those proposed by Dell or WOMMA.
SocialSpark is the only social marketing network offering Google-approved and WOMMA-approved guidelines to sponsored posts. In fact, SocialSpark has private alpha keys welcoming those organizations to verify compliance.
That said, from what you say and what I saw, SocialSpark doesn't engage in the type of activity that Google hates. My apprehension, warranted or not remains to be seen, is whether Google maintains a vendetta against IZEA stuff or if they'll just leave well enough alone since you folks seem to be complying with their wishes.
I'm not saying that you're saying that here, Mark. But IZEA's tools are so often not well received by the blogging community they're meant to support. Often it seems like elite top bloggers make these assertions--and are people who don't really need the help of Pay Per Post, etc.
Ultimately, the point is that conversational marketing is well and good and all, but seeding or what i call "Social Seeding" is very important, and it requires serious money invested in inorganically creating activity on your blog/site that compels new users to also be active just in the fact that they see the site is worth something because other people see it being active...So I'm not against DOING WHAT YOU GOTTA DO at all. And I look forward to trying out Social Spark (if my invite email hadn't failed).
And for the record--I know people are gonna hate me for saying it--I think Zuckerberg's Beacon was a great idea, and it's only doing poorly because bloggers lambasted it...well, that's not true, it was executed poorly--the fact that they didn't ask you every time before it was submitted to your feed, as well as on a per site and universal basis, etc. However, their Fan Page advertisement system is great and renders great ROI for a savvy advertiser. I just wish they would get on top of these initiatives more and release them more professionally like google. Whatever...
Anyway, effective paid marketing tools that have a high ROI are COOL. That's my opinion.
James
from
FaceySpacey.com - "The Startup Incubator"