Comments on: Paid Blogging Is A Lose-Lose Situation

By: Augie Ray

Augie Ray — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:54:26 +0000

I ran across your blog post after I’d written about why paid blog posts are bad for brands, bloggers, and readers. You did such a thorough and succinct job, I’m sorry I didn’t see your earlier blog post!

I wanted to alert you that I used some quotes from your blog post for an article I added to my blog. Since I disagree with Forrester’s pro-sponsored conversation opinions, I wanted to make a point and issued a public offer for Forrester to accept a paid blog post on the Groundswell blog. I was surprised when they responded via a post on their blog. Thought you might be interested.

My blog post: http://www.experiencetheblog.com/2009/08/my-paid-blog-post-on-forrester-blog.html

Forrester’s response: http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2009/08/to-augie-ray-thanks-for-the-offer-but-we-dont-take-sponsorships.html

Thank you for some great thinking on this topic, which I think is vital to credibility for bloggers, authenticity for brands, and trust on the part of consumers.

By: Tim Jahn

Tim Jahn — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:51:27 +0000

I think part of the issue is the idea of a blogger. Bloggers represent a new era in reporting, media, and gathering of information. They represent the idea of Joe Schmoe being able to make a difference and providing you with information you may have gotten from more traditional means yesterday.

When these bloggers behave from time to time like the traditional mass media (ie, getting paid to write about a product), a good chunk of their audience is going to be pissed off (for good reason from their perspective).

By: Adam Singer

Adam Singer — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:52:36 +0000

@Peter – No ‘sour grapes,’ but from a PR standpoint, I just see this as an uncreative marketing tactic. Anyone can throw money at something for eyeballs. There’s little value in that for anyone, I see it as lose-lose.

If people aren’t writing about you/your marketing efforts naturally, perhaps there is a reason for it? Injecting yourself into the conversation isn’t the answer. Be remarkable and you’ll get talked about.

By: Peter Rad

Peter Rad — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:53:53 +0000

How is this different than a paid blogger for Microsoft shilling all their products? Does Engadget get free stuff to try and write about? (That’s not how Consumer Reports handles it).

There are numerous magazines that are nothing more than paid advertorials – Tampa Metro and Tampa Bay magazines for two. Life is filled with Pay to Play.

The problem everyone has, I think, is that the term Blogger means different things to different people. A blogger on Gawker is different than one on GigaOm. When I blog for RAD-INFO, it is different than when I blog for TMCnet. And Adam this is your “personal” blog which I guess means you treat this writing different than at PGPR. One size doesn’t fit all.

At the end of the day, a sale has to be made to pay for stuff. That’s simply how it goes.

Some of this sounds like sour grapes. (Why didn’t they pick me!) Or “I’m better than that”.

By: Adam Singer

Adam Singer — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:18:31 +0000

@JH thank you for the input. You bring up a great point that the emotional response to content is very personal and subjective – agreed 100%.

The response to paid blogging reflects this you’re absolutely right – there is the percentage of readers who it doesn’t bother, but there is also the percentage that it gets under their skin.