G'day! Thanks for returning!
Dave Taylor re-introduces a popular topic into the blogosphere – where do you draw the line on ‘cash for comments’?’
Just as one can be paid for commenting favourably, whether one discloses that or not, so too can one be drawn into an ethical debate for having, let’s say, Google Adsense ads on your blog page. Or be in receipt of free books that you review and post about. Or a nice new gadget/toy.
As Dave says:
But even there, the book title in my blog entry is linked to Amazon via an Amazon Associates link: should I disclose that I’d make $0.17 for each copy someone bought after clicking through my link? And how different is that than pointing out that if the reader clicked on one of the associated Google ads, I’d make $0.09? At what level do we not need to disclose commercial relationships?
Equally of interest to Dave’s own thoughts are the comments from other communicators, like Amy Gahran (who’s helping Heidi Miller be an even more successful Shameless Self Promoter):
I’d say that it might work well for some bloggers to accept money to influence their choice of topic, without necessarily influencing the content. The key to making that work would be transparency, of course. People want to know what they’re getting.
This might especially make sense with book, music, DVD, and game reviews, come to think of it.
It would be an interesting experiment. Sure it would ruffle some feathers — but that’s what feathers are for, right?
If ethical guidelines were so tight as to permit no ‘cash-or-equivalent for comments’ then should I stop blogging because Ben Hamilton gave me free hosting? But Ben’s answer to my email asking “do you want me to blog about you in return?’ was instructive of the ‘new morality’ of the blogosphere:
ta, but honest comments, good, bad, indifferent. no BS to your readers.
Perhaps a blogospherical morality is already extant and, as Don Bell says,
I do not have a problem with a respected blogger getting paid for something they are passionate about, and I don’t mind if I don’t know if they get paid.
101 ways to power-up your writing.
