MediaRhythm on PayPerPost
Jordan from MediaRhythm writes the following about PayPerPost. I just feel I need to say a few things about this, as his comments make little sense to me.
I appreciate Jeff’s verve, and certainly, journalists are made and destroyed on account of their credibility. But I don’t think credibility is Colleen’s primary concern. She is building community, not factual account.
But what is that community based on? Praising products on command? Of course credibility is not her first concern (or the first concern of anybody who uses PayPerPost for that matter). If it was, she wouldn’t be hawking some mobile phone seller on her site. And if she is building a community, it’s apparently only people from PayPerPost on her site, judging from the comments.
If we take a step back from the madness, PayPerPost isn’t all that different than Bath and Bodyworks giving out free samples at the mall. It’s a sign of good will. The distributor isn’t forcing it upon people. They aren’t saying: only if you rave about this to your friends. They aren’t saying: love it or else.
But that’s exactly what PayPerPost does. The advertsiser (and what a sorry bunch those must be that they can’t use regular word of mouth to sell their crap) tell you that your post has to be positive, or at least neutral. And by posting about it, you are playing your role in getting those products rated higher in search engines. You are, essentially, forcing it down everybody’s throat.
They’re giving it away because they believe in the product. Certainly, there are two sides to this story. But it’s up to Colleen’s audience to judge credibility, not us.
Nobody is giving away anything – if these companies that use PayPerPost believed in their product, they wouldn’t have to revert to unethical means of getting the word out. And the advertiser pays – the blogger gets money. Also, lets not forget, we are Colleen’s audience – directly, if we find her site through one form or another, or indirectly – if she and the other PayPerPosters get crap to move up in the search engine rankings.
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