Comments on: The Question (Most) Bloggers Dare Not Answer http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/ Thoughts on Web 2.0, Social Media, Marketing. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:30:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Greg Laden http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-6971 Greg Laden Mon, 08 Jan 2007 15:29:28 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-6971 I think this is very sad, as one would never really want to give up a chance to bash Microsoft.... But I agree with the good Doctor here, and would add this: Everyone has to give everyone else a break here. There is no tradition, no standard, no "ethical center" available to use in making judgements about things like funding paradigms or what constitutes professional behavior. I'm not suggesting that there is NO way to identify very smarmy behavior, but I don't think this is it. (Disclosure is probably important as a rule of thumb. If a company, or a blogger, find themselves hiding something (for whatever reason) then they should probably go talk to their rabbi or shaman or whomever they normally get their advice from.) I think this is very sad, as one would never really want to give up a chance to bash Microsoft….

But I agree with the good Doctor here, and would add this: Everyone has to give everyone else a break here. There is no tradition, no standard, no “ethical center” available to use in making judgements about things like funding paradigms or what constitutes professional behavior. I’m not suggesting that there is NO way to identify very smarmy behavior, but I don’t think this is it.

(Disclosure is probably important as a rule of thumb. If a company, or a blogger, find themselves hiding something (for whatever reason) then they should probably go talk to their rabbi or shaman or whomever they normally get their advice from.)

]]> By: Mark Evans - Agonizing over Vista http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5476 Mark Evans - Agonizing over Vista Fri, 29 Dec 2006 22:14:51 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5476 [...] Rather than immediately jumping into the controversy over the rightness or wrongness of Microsoft’s offer of a free Vista-loaded laptop to dozens of bloggers, I decided to watch from the sidelines for awhile to gather my thoughts. (Disclosure: I’m one of those bloggers who was given a Ferrari laptop by Microsoft. My employer, b5media, plans to give it away as part of a contest). The Vista issue is fascinating on a number of different levels. One, it puts the spotlight on whether bloggers need to be editorially “pure” like journalists so the content they produce is seen as objective. It’s an interesting concept as blogging evolves into a mainstream medium read by people looking for information and insight. As Joel (on Software) Spolsky argues, trust is a key consideration for many bloggers who wants their posts to be seen as credible and authentic. Perhaps what the Vista issue does is continue the fragmentation of the blogosphere. There will be bloggers who will write and behave like journalists - and expect to be treated as such by companies, PR firms, conference organizers, etc. There will be bloggers who have little interest in being treated as a journalist because it’s not a job, and they get paid little or nothing to write their blogs so how’s a freebie here and there really going to matter. Then, there’s the Pay-Per-Post crowd. Truth be told, no one is really, really pure - not even journalists, particularly high-tech reporters who operate in a PR-happy world of product trials, demos and evaluations (and this comes from a decade as a high-tech newspaper reporter). I would hazard to guess, for example, the majority of Microsoft XP CDs sent to journalists in 2001 were never returned to Microsoft even though we’re talking about $350 to $500 product. In general, I would strongly suggest the majority of hardware/software sent to reporters is never returned, and everyone carries on their merry, objective way. And what about when a source takes a reporter out for an expensive lunch, or a PR firm invites a group of journalists to a concert or sports event, or a company takes a reporter(s) on a junket/conference and picks up the flight and accommodation expenses? Where do you draw the line on accepting freebies? It’s a very tricky game. That said, Microsoft’s offer - albeit generous - strikes me as over the top given we’re talking about a $2200 product. It’s awful tempting to keep something so shiny and new but to me it doesn’t seem quite right (maybe this comes from nearly 20 years as a journalist). If I were Microsoft, I would have asked for the laptops back and donated them to charity, or asked the bloggers to donate them to the charity of their choice after three months. For more thoughts, check out Internet News, Deep Jive Interests, ex-Microsoft employee Robert Scoble, who thinks Microsoft is doing something awesome, Web Worker Daily, and BL Ochman, who provides a snapshot of the controversy. [...] [...] Rather than immediately jumping into the controversy over the rightness or wrongness of Microsoft’s offer of a free Vista-loaded laptop to dozens of bloggers, I decided to watch from the sidelines for awhile to gather my thoughts. (Disclosure: I’m one of those bloggers who was given a Ferrari laptop by Microsoft. My employer, b5media, plans to give it away as part of a contest). The Vista issue is fascinating on a number of different levels. One, it puts the spotlight on whether bloggers need to be editorially “pure” like journalists so the content they produce is seen as objective. It’s an interesting concept as blogging evolves into a mainstream medium read by people looking for information and insight. As Joel (on Software) Spolsky argues, trust is a key consideration for many bloggers who wants their posts to be seen as credible and authentic. Perhaps what the Vista issue does is continue the fragmentation of the blogosphere. There will be bloggers who will write and behave like journalists – and expect to be treated as such by companies, PR firms, conference organizers, etc. There will be bloggers who have little interest in being treated as a journalist because it’s not a job, and they get paid little or nothing to write their blogs so how’s a freebie here and there really going to matter. Then, there’s the Pay-Per-Post crowd. Truth be told, no one is really, really pure – not even journalists, particularly high-tech reporters who operate in a PR-happy world of product trials, demos and evaluations (and this comes from a decade as a high-tech newspaper reporter). I would hazard to guess, for example, the majority of Microsoft XP CDs sent to journalists in 2001 were never returned to Microsoft even though we’re talking about $350 to $500 product. In general, I would strongly suggest the majority of hardware/software sent to reporters is never returned, and everyone carries on their merry, objective way. And what about when a source takes a reporter out for an expensive lunch, or a PR firm invites a group of journalists to a concert or sports event, or a company takes a reporter(s) on a junket/conference and picks up the flight and accommodation expenses? Where do you draw the line on accepting freebies? It’s a very tricky game. That said, Microsoft’s offer – albeit generous – strikes me as over the top given we’re talking about a $2200 product. It’s awful tempting to keep something so shiny and new but to me it doesn’t seem quite right (maybe this comes from nearly 20 years as a journalist). If I were Microsoft, I would have asked for the laptops back and donated them to charity, or asked the bloggers to donate them to the charity of their choice after three months. For more thoughts, check out Internet News, Deep Jive Interests, ex-Microsoft employee Robert Scoble, who thinks Microsoft is doing something awesome, Web Worker Daily, and BL Ochman, who provides a snapshot of the controversy. [...]

]]> By: franky http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5467 franky Fri, 29 Dec 2006 18:15:59 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5467 Kumar, being an MVP has nothing to do with were you get your info from. It is all about size, only the following you have build <em>really</em> matters to MS. And if I have a look at the list of bloggers who received a notebook, there were many known Apple users who got selected. The MVP program, and other MS community rewards, has always allowed the person/community to be critical about Windows. And I have lead a community which became CLIP (Germen Community Leading Influence Program from MS) member. Sure we loved Windows, but dugg into the system as deep as possible. And <em>bad behavior</em> got torn apart. And still we got awarded. And the bigger your community becomes, the sooner you'll become MVP. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx" rel="nofollow">Sysinternals</a> being bought by MS proves MS actually does accept critics. ;-) Kumar, being an MVP has nothing to do with were you get your info from. It is all about size, only the following you have build really matters to MS.

And if I have a look at the list of bloggers who received a notebook, there were many known Apple users who got selected.
The MVP program, and other MS community rewards, has always allowed the person/community to be critical about Windows.
And I have lead a community which became CLIP (Germen Community Leading Influence Program from MS) member.
Sure we loved Windows, but dugg into the system as deep as possible. And bad behavior got torn apart. And still we got awarded. And the bigger your community becomes, the sooner you’ll become MVP.
Sysinternals being bought by MS proves MS actually does accept critics. ;-)

]]> By: Kumar http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5466 Kumar Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:48:56 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5466 Well, I am not surprised with this pimping act - Can I expect any of those bloggers writing a anti-review of the laptop? NO. Infact I am surprised that in India, one of MS's *honored* MVP is a blogger who copies content from Digg/Reddit etc. and gets away with it!! Well, I am not surprised with this pimping act – Can I expect any of those bloggers writing a anti-review of the laptop? NO.
Infact I am surprised that in India, one of MS’s *honored* MVP is a blogger who copies content from Digg/Reddit etc. and gets away with it!!

]]> By: Dominic Jones http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5412 Dominic Jones Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:13:22 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5412 Seems you're saying it all comes down to the economics of blogging, or lack thereof. And I figure you're right. Most full-time bloggers are unlikely to endure, even those with fairly popular blogs, unless they can find some way to pay the bills. Advertising isn't going to do it for most people. Subscriptions might work in some instances. In other cases, blogs might simply be used for marketing a service or product. I really doubt that payola is going to be a sustainable model though. For one thing, who wants to read advertorials? But, more importantly, you can't eat laptops. Seems you’re saying it all comes down to the economics of blogging, or lack thereof. And I figure you’re right. Most full-time bloggers are unlikely to endure, even those with fairly popular blogs, unless they can find some way to pay the bills.

Advertising isn’t going to do it for most people. Subscriptions might work in some instances. In other cases, blogs might simply be used for marketing a service or product.

I really doubt that payola is going to be a sustainable model though. For one thing, who wants to read advertorials? But, more importantly, you can’t eat laptops.

]]> By: Jason Drohn http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5411 Jason Drohn Fri, 29 Dec 2006 05:12:46 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5411 I don't see why everyone is fired up about this, seriously. Microsoft and AMD are pulling PR. Plain and simple. So they target the bloggers. If someone writes a dishonest review of the software, then you shouldn't be reading them anyway. I used to work for Pepsi, and I have personally delivered refrigerators, grills, stereo systems, and big screen TV's to store managers. Bloggers are no different. You give incentives to decision makers, and that's all there is to it. I don’t see why everyone is fired up about this, seriously. Microsoft and AMD are pulling PR. Plain and simple. So they target the bloggers. If someone writes a dishonest review of the software, then you shouldn’t be reading them anyway.

I used to work for Pepsi, and I have personally delivered refrigerators, grills, stereo systems, and big screen TV’s to store managers. Bloggers are no different. You give incentives to decision makers, and that’s all there is to it.

]]> By: Gary http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/comment-page-1/#comment-5395 Gary Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:33:07 +0000 http://www.deepjiveinterests.com/2006/12/28/the-question-most-bloggers-dare-not-answer/#comment-5395 Where the hell is my free Ferrari lappy!!! if there is anybody who should be writing a review on a free Ferrari Lappy it's the overseer of The Garage, dontcha think? Seriously though, bring on the free swag, just don't expect me to wax poetic about it if your product is crap!!! It's all about generating some flow and a bit of free swag. I'm a firm believer that you can take the income & freebies and maintain your integrity...if you have any to begin with. Where the hell is my free Ferrari lappy!!! if there is anybody who should be writing a review on a free Ferrari Lappy it’s the overseer of The Garage, dontcha think?

Seriously though, bring on the free swag, just don’t expect me to wax poetic about it if your product is crap!!! It’s all about generating some flow and a bit of free swag. I’m a firm believer that you can take the income & freebies and maintain your integrity…if you have any to begin with.

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