http://www.emaildashboard.com/2006/11/blurring-the-lines-w-blogger-payola.html Driving email forward Tue, 13 May 2008 17:12:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 http://www.emaildashboard.com/2006/11/blurring-the-lines-w-blogger-payola.html/comment-page-1#comment-33 DrSavage Mon, 13 Nov 2006 19:56:53 +0000 http://www.clearcontext.com/edblog/?p=58#comment-33 This problem is as old as advertising itself, and it has been dealt with before (to a degree). There's a reason infomercials like this always need a running line at the bottom which informs the viewer that he is watching an advertisement and the same goes for newspaper and magazine "articles". With Internet's status as media outside the law right now, however, the audience is currently not protected at all and this effect has spanned across all forms of the internet media, not just blogs. Amazon book reviews, imdb movie reviews, computer game reviews, consumer product reviews in general are at the moment totally dominated by corporate plants who sing praises to whatever happens to be the subject. Most major game publishing corporations for example have many people on their payroll who have a single purpose of penetrating various internet communities (forums, chatrooms, review sites etc) , establishing themselves as trustworthy posters and then promoting certain products. Here, for example, is the post from forums dedicated to Microsoft's new Ipod killer Zune, the post made by "average Joe": "Despite the fact that Zune won't have all the capabilities the market desires at launch, Microsoft is a dependable company and these features will be addressed at some point in the next year. This includes wireless, of course. It will function as the market dictates. The Zune aims to be a revolutionary product, not an evolutionary one. The goal wasn't to simply copy the iPod, but rather to create an entirely new device. The look, function and place of this product are inherently unique. To that effect the Zune will find its niche within the marketplace. I'm very pleased with what's been announced and I'll be purchasing Zunes for the whole family." I don't think we will see a solution to this in our lifetime, and I don't think we will ever reach a phase where no one will have to wonder if a certain person on an internet forum is a regular customer expressing his opinion or a shill. This problem is as old as advertising itself, and it has been dealt with before (to a degree). There’s a reason infomercials like this always need a running line at the bottom which informs the viewer that he is watching an advertisement and the same goes for newspaper and magazine “articles”. With Internet’s status as media outside the law right now, however, the audience is currently not protected at all and this effect has spanned across all forms of the internet media, not just blogs. Amazon book reviews, imdb movie reviews, computer game reviews, consumer product reviews in general are at the moment totally dominated by corporate plants who sing praises to whatever happens to be the subject. Most major game publishing corporations for example have many people on their payroll who have a single purpose of penetrating various internet communities (forums, chatrooms, review sites etc) , establishing themselves as trustworthy posters and then promoting certain products. Here, for example, is the post from forums dedicated to Microsoft’s new Ipod killer Zune, the post made by “average Joe”:
“Despite the fact that Zune won’t have all the capabilities the market desires at launch, Microsoft is a dependable company and these features will be addressed at some point in the next year. This includes wireless, of course. It will function as the market dictates.
The Zune aims to be a revolutionary product, not an evolutionary one. The goal wasn’t to simply copy the iPod, but rather to create an entirely new device. The look, function and place of this product are inherently unique. To that effect the Zune will find its niche within the marketplace.
I’m very pleased with what’s been announced and I’ll be purchasing Zunes for the whole family.”
I don’t think we will see a solution to this in our lifetime, and I don’t think we will ever reach a phase where no one will have to wonder if a certain person on an internet forum is a regular customer expressing his opinion or a shill.

]]>