ReveNews
PayPerPost.com Will Be The Biggest Failure In Blogging History, & Here’s Why
View: http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/.
A step in the right direction, yes? A b.s. attempt at solving the ‘real’ problem, probably? Turns out that PayPerPost.com really does want you to disclose, and they’ve come up some “badges”, cough, cough, yes, badges that a blogger can put on their blog to express their intentions. This sounds so familiar… ahem, cough.
Anyway, TechCrunch smacks them around a bit here. Go to Techmeme for the whole shibang as the blogosphere explodes yet again. Frankly, I’m beginning to think that these gentleman are marketing heros from all the free press they’ve gotten out of this. More here, here, here, and here.
I’m about done harping on this issue dear reader. The lines have been drawn, and I’ve done what I can to promote an honorable way for the people in our industry to band together. Aside from that, as I’ve mentioned here in a piece about the blog police at the daily fix… it’s up to us all, together.
So, instead of keeping the press machine going on this (for as long as I can resist that is), I’m going to make a prediction. Here it is.
PayPerPost.com will be the biggest failure in blogging history.
There I said it. Why?
One reason: Not one, nada, nobody, anyone with any type of positive brand consciousness will touch it with a ten foot poll. It will be full of the hoodia and viagra clientele that we all love so much. Want to make 10 bucks writing about penis pills? Go to PPP. Want to get a buck in your PayPal account writing about a diet pill? Go to PPP.
The risk is too great for a “real” advertiser. Mark my words, a brand can/will be destroyed by the tenacious bloggers that will, yes, will, find and expose any brand that thinks they can pay people to write fake shit to boost their bottom line, disclosed or not. Can anyone say Walmart/Edelman??? Is anyone listening here? Anyone paying attention?
Would you put your harded earned brand equity at risk for some freaking back links in a handful of blogs??? Do you have any idea how long it takes to build a strong brand, or how much? Do you, really? Is it worth it?
Again, the risk is too great.
Tell me I’m wrong, go ahead. VCDan, you win the battle. The war will be over in 12-months when the funding runs out, the advertisers fade away (were they ever really there?) and the Viagra pill wears off. Hear that deflating sound?
Fake content, is fake content, is fake content… is fake content.
**Blogged from my hotel room in San Francisco attending the midtail show. See you all at the PPP booth at Ad-tech next week!
“PayPerPost.com will be the biggest failure in blogging history.”
I don’t think so with as much free publicity as you’re giving them. But you also had how many posts here about why MySpace was going to fail too.
Just reread your post again:
http://www.revenews.com/wayneporter/archives/002416.html
You said:
“This guy is a blowhard, worse than Jarvis. The video is entertaining, but innefective, unless you like watching someone just rant.”
So now you’re ranting. And then in Shmuly’s thread with the video with some cuss words:
http://www.revenews.com/shmuly/2006/10/affiliate_summit_vegas_2007.html
You said:
“Too funny. Don’t think we needed the F word though? Would still be funny without it I think?”
And now you’re using them here in your blog.
“Mark my words, a brand can/will be destroyed by the tenacious bloggers that will, yes, will, find and expose any brand that thinks they can pay people to write fake shit to boost their bottom line, disclosed or not.”
You alright?
I agree with Trust on the free press thing. I hadn’t even heard of this company until you blogged about them
With all the additional press from TechCrunch et al the word is going to spread.
I think their business model makes sense. Bloggers losing money to AdSense blindness will find affiliate marketing and pay per post a legitimate way to make money.
Excuse me, but are you a journalist? I mean I can’t tell. On the one hand you seem to use journalist styles and language, but on the other hand you get your facts completely wrong to the point that I wonder if they are libellous.
For example “Want to make 10 bucks writing about penis pills? “. Umm, we are a marketplace yes, and any advertiser can come to us to meet any blogger that uses us, but we do manually vet both bloggers and advertisers and have never ever posted up any opportunity that looks remotely like spam, that could be offensive, obscene etc etc. So no, PayPerPost is definately not the place to go if you want to make 10 bucks writing about penis pills. Same thing with the diet pills.
Also, we don’t support advertisers that want people to write ‘fake shit’, nor do we support or condone bloggers that lie to make cash. In the same way that a small percentage of users of a Mall may be less than desireable there is a risk that a small percentage of PayPerPost users are less than desireable, but unlike most marketplaces in the world we actually go to huge steps to prevent that from happening. I’m a little surprised, given your aspirations to be a journalist, that you didn’t mention anything about that side of the business (the human, manual, reviewing side of things).
Finally, “Not one, nada, nobody, anyone with any type of positive brand consciousness will touch it with a ten foot poll”. It’s Pole, not poll. But anyway, you should sign up to the service as a blogger and take a look at the opportunities on offer and who has put them up there. I think you’ll find one or two global market leaders that someone like you would kill to have sponsor your little piece of the Internet.
Hope that all makes sense.
Kind regards,
Peter Wright
(writing software, Books - on actual paper, and hundreds of articles since before you knew the Internet even existed)
Jim - why bother? You’ve done your bit, had your say now lets just watch this unfold.
I fear many more PPP type companies will come on board and that will be that for the blogosphere.
And Peter - being petty by going after spelling errors and your “writing software, book…” thing says more about you.
Jim,
I respect your prediction and will be working every day of the next 12 months to build an amazing marketplace that helps more people contribute to this medium you and I like so much. The large majority of the world hasn’t found the blogosphere yet because it’s been dominated by folks who make enough money offline to have an online hobby. Just as affiliate links (Amazon) and paid search (Overture/Google) shook things up, but led to amazing world-changing benefits for us all, sponsored posts will bring more knowledge, perspectives and creativity to the blogosphere. New adopters may start blogging to get some spending money and platforms like PPP will require they have at least as many organic as sponsored posts, but they’ll stick around because they fall in love with the free expression and community benefits. Along the way, we have a lot of work to do, but the goal is worth fighting for.
Your bluster sometimes confuses your message, but please keep the advice coming. Efforts like DisclosurePolicy.org will improve transparency for the blogosphere going forward and everyone’s feedback will help make it better.
Thanks,
VC Dan
Hey Jim,
Thanks for the feedback and added incentive, every little bit helps. I will add your skepticism to the list of reasons I will be working hard to make PayPerPost the best marketplace possible and to promote a standard link (Dislosure Policy?) that all audiences can click to know the affiliations and disclosure practices of the bloggers they read.
The biggest reason I’ll be working hard, though, is because PayPerPost is a disruptive business that has the opportunity to change the world in a lasting way. Consumer Generated Media (CGM: blogs, videos, podcasts, photos, social nets) has quickly gained a larger slice of the media pie and citizen mindshare, but even CGM is dominated by a handful of loud voices that have relatively similar demographics. That skew is largely because CGM early adopters had the time and offline income to engage in a time-consuming online hobby.
Although the masses have dabbled in CGM, their voice is muted because they cannot prioritize it versus paying the rent, feeding the kids and putting food on the table — all the usual stuff. In researching PayPerPost for investment, I found that Posties typically raise their frequency, diversity and quality of posts (organic and sponsored). The PPP marketplace rating system, the best-practices-sharing Posties community and the list of topic ideas all contribute to a better blog product. As a result, Postie audiences grow and their voice starts to be heard more widely.
CGM has struggled for a sustainable revenue model, with YouTube selling videos, MySpace selling profiles and bloggers using everything at their disposal from affiliate links, to text links, to AdSense. The “killer model” to sustainable revenue for the masses hasn’t appeared, yet.
I believe PayPerPost has that potential. If I am wrong, you will have the opportunity to bathe in the glory of calling it early. However, if I am right, the masses who have tested CGM or who find CGM in the coming years will have a marketplace to receive incentive, best practices and ideas. They may join the worldwide CGM discussion because they hope to cover some bills (that in itself is a life-changer), but they will stay and contribute their experience, knowledge, perspective and creativity because they fall in love with the self expression and community. That, my friend, will create long-lasting, world-changing benefits for us all.
So, please keep the input coming. We won’t get it right without feedback. The traffic and resulting signups don’t hurt either
Sorry for the double-comment folks, I was getting MT errors on hitting ‘post’. Don’t u hate when that happens…
I don’t really mind the thought of PayPerPost so much. I think it’s similar to radio personalities that smoothly roll from their normal broadcasting into an advertisement, and of course radio personalities often broadcast from certain drinking establishments or car dealerships that pay them to be there. That completely blurs the lines and it’s been going on for years.
Anyone remember when Rich Hall used to play Paul Harvey on the SNL Weekend Update? The whole point of it was that Paul Harvey starts talking about one thing and then all of a sudden he’s saying, “that reminds me of a story about three guys named Manny, Moe and Jack”.
On the other hand, I think Jim’s right that many bloggers who want to be seen as respectable will shy away from doing this. If PayPerPost wants to succeeed, what they need is one very high-profile blogger who says “I’m going to do this.” If Jeff Jarvis or Seth Godin or Robert Scoble or someone else that has earned respect decides to use PayPerPost, it will begin to legitimize the practice for less-known bloggers. Of course PayPerPost has a big hurdle in finding that high-profile blogger willing to partner with them.
“CGM has struggled for a sustainable revenue model, with YouTube selling videos, MySpace selling profiles and bloggers using everything at their disposal from affiliate links, to text links, to AdSense. The “killer model” to sustainable revenue for the masses hasn’t appeared, yet. ”
VC Dan- you are so close, so close! Contact me when you have time for a talk.