Debate Over Sponsored Conversations: Get Over It.

October 26, 2009

One of the keynote presentations at BlogWorld this year was a debate over sponsored conversations. I was warned ahead of time that it could get a little heated.

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Essentially, the debate was over the ethics of it. As the reach and influence of bloggers increases, companies find themselves wanting to reach those audiences. The way to do that and have control over it is to engage in sponsored conversation. In short, things like paid blog posts, sponsored tweets, etc.

Izea, based in Orlando, is the poster child for sponsored conversation. The CEO, Ted Murphy, was on the panel along with a few others. Now, Ted has found himself under attack more than once over the nature of his business. Some people vehemently disagree with the very idea of receiving money for coverage.

The debate fired up again with the recent announcement from the FTC regarding disclosure requirements. In short, if you get stuff for coverage, you must disclose it to your readers.

Why Debate It?

For me, the panel proved a little boring for one simple reason: It didn’t matter. Not one bit.

Debating the ethics of sponsored conversations is meaningless because it IS happening and it will happen. And there is nothing any utopian blogger can do about it. It happens in magazines. It happens on TV. Radio. The internet. What’s the difference?

Each blogger needs to make up their own mind on how they want to approach it.

In short, the FTC ruling changed nothing. Any decent blogger was already disclosing. The FTC ruling only serves to specifically mention blogs, but essentially nothing has changed. As Ted mentioned, just makes sure you have a disclosure policy on your website.

Regardless of how you feel about sponsored tweets, it was a natural evolution. It was inevitable. Deal with it. Nobody is forcing you to participate.

Getting into debate over this issue is just mental masturbation for people with nothing better to do.

Photo Credit: Zac Johnson

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  • One other thing that was noted in the panel was that it's almost impossible to avoid so-called "sponsored conversations" -- even for those "utopian" bloggers (great term, BTW).

    Almost everything you write, video, or photograph could be construed, in some way, to be sponsored. Jeremiah Owyang did a great job as the moderator pointing this out, right from the start.
  • I actually agree with you, it's here to stay, and unavoidable. It does make sense to have a public conversation on how the FTC's rules impact bloggers --and best practices for brands and bloggers.

    Despite that it's here to stay, there are risks to all parties involved.
  • It's a pretty high quality problem really, deciding whether or not to accept work sponsoring products. Very interesting how it's all playing out. Initially most people seemed against it. Now more people seem to be accepting it.
  • Richard60
    Why is the FTC busting the bloggers balls over this issue when 90% of TV commercials take truth in advertising to new lows - they shine everything up from fast food to insurance companies that pretend they really serve those tasty looking burgers, photographed as prepared by a gourmet chef, and insurance companies that care for the individual - when we all know it's BS. If you have a good product it should speak for itself.
  • Richard60
    Caveat emptor boys, that's the name of the game. Unfortunately as PT Barnum said " there is a sucker born every minute" that keeps the scammers healthy.
  • I missed this session at BlogWorld, but have been keeping up on the FTC talk. I don't see the big deal about disclosing your affiliations. Most readers are smart enough to realize that if you're promoting a service or product there's a good chance you may be receiving compensation of some sort.

    Thanks for the link to the Disclosure. Been meaning to add a general disclosure page for a while now.
  • This is part of the natural progression of the industry. Did anyone really think that this day would never arrive? I agree with Dave's post here, Get over it.
  • Waiting for the final FTC verdict. It seems that nobody know what the FTC really want?
  • All bloggers are mature here and this is the business model which is applied everywhere in every format. Celebrity take money to come in any product shoot than what is this ... this is also selling their face value to common people.

    This is going to last forever.
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