Comments on: Breaking: PayPerPost Aims Its Sights At ReviewMe (…Sort Of)

By: The PayPerPost Model Marching Towards Free by technio.us

The PayPerPost Model Marching Towards Free by technio.us — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:41:53 +0000

[...] to go through the eye of a needle than for a blogger to write a completely unbiased paid review. As Deep Jive points out, even with full disclosure and the choice to write pro or con copy, a blogger writing negative [...]

By: Tony Hung

Tony Hung — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:36:05 +0000

Which is not to say that I dispute those stats — but I wonder how different (or the same) people who sign up for PPP programs are from what Pew has found (or BlogAds for that matter).

I suspect they *are* different, but the best we’ll be able to go on is anecdotal evidence only — and since that’s the case, I’ll stick to my guns for now. ;)

Cheers
tony.

By: rslux

rslux — Mon, 28 May 2007 18:18:55 +0000

I’d be a fool to suggest that there are no cash-strapped people on the Internet, but if you look at things like the recent Pew Internet survey or any number of the surveys done by companies like Blogads, it becomes pretty clear that the majority of bloggers are not poor SAHMs or broke students trying to make a few extra bucks.

Which is not to say that most bloggers would not welcome a little extra cash, but I rather doubt that the “OMG must blog to make the rent” scenario is at all common. The more realistic scenario, IMO, is that they’re selling stuff on eBay for money, not blogging.

By: franky

franky — Mon, 28 May 2007 14:41:01 +0000

I read quite some personal blogs and some bloggers use PPP. Thing is, they couldn’t care less about problogging, ethics or what A-Listers think about those services. Arrington? Most of them even don’t know what TC is.

They blog because they like it, and they’ve heard they can make money. And many bloggers I know can actually use the money to make the month’s end.

What is Arrington’s soul worth? CPM $2.5? Or the WinDoctor spyware ads I have regularly had at TC lately?
Honestly, more and more those ethicians start to annoy me. Not everyone can charge $10k for an ad and pay a Palo Alto rent. I know bloggers who still use a P3, and PPP in the hope to be able to afford a new PC, but most of time it are also those bloggers who run blogathons or participate to the Blogathon and similar events. I haven’t seen many anti-PPP posters participate to those events.
Just saying.

By: Kevin D

Kevin D — Mon, 28 May 2007 07:15:18 +0000

I am taking a different stance with our site. We are re-launching next week or so (always a so!). In the next phase after, our site (blogs only) will be offering reviews but true reviews. I class a review as something of a “touch and feel”. I’ll say no more but with a blog search engine and a list of advertisers, we could be on to something! And still no investment to date!

Kevin

By: Tony Hung

Tony Hung — Mon, 28 May 2007 04:20:47 +0000

rslux —

I am undoubtedly generalizing a great deal, but paid posting is particularly popular amongst people who are looking to make a little extra money. Some of those people aren’t just looking to pay for an extra dinner out, but are also looking to pay the rent.

Am I being presumptuous by saying that some people who actually *need* a little extra cash *don’t* often have the luxury of debating such things — even if they’re not fighting fires of performing battlefield triage?

Sure, some are out to make a quick buck, but some are also trying to make ends meet. And while I’m not saying that some are without any sense of ethics, sometimes it does take a back seat every now and again — especially if you think no one is looking.

By: rslux

rslux — Mon, 28 May 2007 02:24:23 +0000

some bloggers may not have the luxury of debating those ethics all the time as well.

This is the only thing I disagree with. We’re talking about blogging here, not fighting fires or performing battlefield triage. Of course there’s time to debate the ethical issues.