Sponsored Posts - Yes or NO?
Filed in archive Technology on December 23, 2005
As you know - or do not yet - we do sponsored posts at our network.
The deal is very simple - we get a piece of custom information about our sponsor. This information is then compiled into a post and labelled 'Sponsored Post'. The idea is to mention a sponsored product and never to sneak it into your mind.
We never endorse a product because it is sponsored!
However if we like something and have tested it we do endorse something, The sole reason is we like it not because it is a sponsor.
Now Karly sends in this comment:
"TJ
I love your stuff, but what's with these "sponsored posts"?
I mean, can anyone come along and pay you to blog? Or are we meant to think that you only agree to this kind of thing if you endorse the product? And if so, why don't you blog about them without them sponsoring you?
There seems to be a line here and you've crossed it IMO."
I realize the line we draw between compiling a sponsored post and then adding our personal opinion, because we like it and not because it is sponsored, might be hard to see. Much harder than I would expect.
What do you think?
I love your stuff, but what's with these "sponsored posts"?
I mean, can anyone come along and pay you to blog? Or are we meant to think that you only agree to this kind of thing if you endorse the product? And if so, why don't you blog about them without them sponsoring you?
There seems to be a line here and you've crossed it IMO."
Permalink: Sponsored Posts - Yes or NO?
Tags: sponsored posts entrepreneurship technology 2003 sponsored+posts venture+capital please+enter
Vote for Sponsored Posts - Yes or NO?:
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Rating: 7.60 out of 5 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
Jason Darrow
(12/27/05 11:18pm)
Response from:
Anita Campbell
(12/28/05 9:59pm)
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Hmmm, sponsored posts don't bother me in the slightest, either as a reader or as a blog publisher. I figure most readers will put into context anything that is written in a sponsored post (as long as it is clear the post is written for an advertiser and no attempt is made to hide that fact).
Actually I am much more bothered by the flip side of the coin: all the large corporations that hire PR firms to send around offers of content that are really just disguised press releases, and try to finagle free publicity from poor hardworking bloggers who are either self-employed or slaving away at their labors of love. Or worse, the Fortune 1000 companies that invite bloggers to blog on their company blogs and offer no compensation! I hope bloggers out there are not falling for these attempts to pimp them for free advertising or free labor, out of some misguided notion that their blogging is somehow remaining pure because they are not accepting money. It makes me slightly ill to see other bloggers being used in such ways. Especially when I see them writing about topics that I know were PR firm set-ups (because remember I received the same "personalized" email which starts out by gushing about how wonderful my blog is, as did about 100 other bloggers).
I say if we bloggers can get paid, more power to us. Just make sure you write mostly about non-sponsored topics, from your own information sourcing and not supplied by a PR firm.
Actually I am much more bothered by the flip side of the coin: all the large corporations that hire PR firms to send around offers of content that are really just disguised press releases, and try to finagle free publicity from poor hardworking bloggers who are either self-employed or slaving away at their labors of love. Or worse, the Fortune 1000 companies that invite bloggers to blog on their company blogs and offer no compensation! I hope bloggers out there are not falling for these attempts to pimp them for free advertising or free labor, out of some misguided notion that their blogging is somehow remaining pure because they are not accepting money. It makes me slightly ill to see other bloggers being used in such ways. Especially when I see them writing about topics that I know were PR firm set-ups (because remember I received the same "personalized" email which starts out by gushing about how wonderful my blog is, as did about 100 other bloggers).
I say if we bloggers can get paid, more power to us. Just make sure you write mostly about non-sponsored topics, from your own information sourcing and not supplied by a PR firm.
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I'm uncomfortable with "Sponsored Posts" on my blog. If an individual or company asks me to review a product and I think it is good or at least interesting I'll write an entry about it. However, to write an entry that you know nothing about and have no real interest in is crossing a line IMHO. Blogs, Podcasts and certain IPTV casts all have an authentic fresh feeling to them that does not exist in mass media. That is the reason I'm drawn to them and, once again IMHO, is why so many others are as well. If we start polluting our blogs with sponsored entries we start to lose what it is that draws people to the blogs in the first place.
Jason Darrow