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Beware the blogvertorial

As someone who's been blogging since 1995 I've always been very careful to remain as objective as possible and to disclose any commercial arrangements that might be seen to affect my opinions and comments.

When Microsoft offered me some free software, I gladly accepted it and told readers about it. When Vodafone allowed me to use their (then-new) GPRS setup while visiting the UK I also wrote about it and my experiences.

However, none of these "freebies" have ever weakened my resolve to simply state the facts and my honest opinions. There's been plenty of critique of both Microsoft and Vodafone in this column where justified.

But are all bloggers as straight-up and forthright?

Chances are they're not.

There was a time when I was offered mountains of freebies and goodies, including trips, product, services, etc. Sometimes I accepted but more often than not I didn't.

I was well aware of the risk associated with becoming a defacto marketing tool for vendors -- and that's not what *this* column is about.

Fortunately, I don't get so many offers these days.

I say fortunately because I simply don't have the time to explain to hopeful would-be gift-givers that advertorial isn't my scene.

Now I'm pretty sure there are plenty of other bloggers who'd jump at the chance to get "free stuff" in return for giving the product or service a favourable mention.

These days, it's even becoming common in the mainstream media.

Look at how often tech-writers from the MSM get paid junkets to trade shows or other events so as to write about a product.

While they may do the right thing by disclosing such arrangements, I've yet to see any MSM journalist or publisher have the guts to publish a bad review or strong criticism of anything promoted to them in this way. Is that really objective journalism then?

But closer to home and the blogosphere... I read this story in the NZ Herald with great interest this morning.

It seems that PowerShop are buttering-up some of our more hi-profile bloggers in the hope they'll say nice things about them.

I wonder why PowerShop didn't contact me? Could it be all the bad things I've said about their attempt at introducing faux-competition to the market by way of smoke and mirrors perhaps?

It's being described as an attempt to break the boundaries of existing online advertising but one can't help but wonder whether it's an attempt to get every-day people to engage in a genre of marketing that I'll call "blogvertorial".

Good on those like David Farrar, Alistair Thompson and Russell Brown who have inked a deal with PowerShop for the use of their images in the campaign. Those who put the work into producing good online media deserve to be rewarded for that effort -- but encouraging blogvertorial activities? Well that I'm not so excited about.

I'm not suggesting for a moment that the three guys mentioned above are themselves engaged in blogvertorial -- they're simply the chosen figureheads for a campaign designed to incite blogvertorial activities by others.

Such blogvertorial has enormous potential to weaken the power of the Net as a tool for consumers.

How will people know whether what they're reading is an honest opinion, or just an attempt to win $1,000 in hard times by writing nice things about an advertiser?

And the worst thing? I suspect we'll soon be over-run with blogvertorial content.

Although it's long been said "you can't believe everything you read on the internet", it looks as if this saying is about to gain new relevance.

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