IZEA, Chris Brogan, Disclosure, and Community Trust
Great story about IZEA, paid posts, trust, and Chris Brogan. There was a mini storm on Twitter about how Chris Brogan has sold out and lost his credibility. Why? Because he was paid for a post about shopping at Kmart, a post on his Dadomatic blog, not his personal branded blog. He used a pay per post service from IZEA, a company where he and other top bloggers hold an unpaid advisory position. The post was fully disclosed as paid content and, in my opinion, well suited to that blog’s audience.
Since no one asked, here’s my two cents. As long as you are true to your audience, I do not see a problem with getting paid for a blog post. Bloggers, at least the majority, are not journalists. They are publishers that offer content to an audience that wants to participate in a conversation. If you stay true to that conversation, and disclose what you are getting paid for in your posts, I say go for it. Give your community some credit too, they can tell when you’re selling out for a quick buck and not giving them content you can use.
I remember the McDonald’s commercials with Michael Jordan. Here is a world class athlete, the best NBA player of his time and maybe of all time, stuffing Big Macs into his pie hole. Am I supposed to believe that Big Macs are a part of his diet while competing for a championship? Are you kidding me? It’s a celebrity endorsement, and that’s what I love about IZEA. They give every blogger a chance to be a celebrity endorser, and with much more credibility since they require disclosure.
A smart blogger will not take money for a post on a product that doesn’t meet the needs of the community. That’s how you lose credibility. It’s like driving a bus load of Vegans but you make frequent stops at a steak house. That’s selling out, and your community will not stand for it.
Chris Brogan made a fantastic and very well thought out post on what happened regarding his Kmart post. You can read it here.
I’ve met Ted Murphy and Ashley from IZEA, at Affiliate Summit in Boston and Blog World. I had a great conversation with Ted about his business and being a CEO in general. He GETS it, and IZEA gets it too.
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December 16, 2008 at 12:01 pm
[...] IZEA, Chris Brogan, Disclosure, and Community Trust | 1115 Media | Michael Buechele [...]
December 17, 2008 at 9:53 am
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