One of the constant discussions that goes on within the tech blogosphere is tech sites taking payments for reviews and favorable PR. These discussions usually reach a fevered pitch when sites like PayPerPost and ReviewME are mentioned in the same breath as blogging.

Well it appears that tech news site DailyTech decided to see just how persuasive blogging payola is and published their results in a post today, While they don’t mention any companies or sites by name; with one or two exceptions, Kristopher Kubicki and Gabriel Ikram from DailyTech do lay down some hard numbers 

Of 35 online computer-related publications, 23 (66 percent) refused editorial influence in exchange for advertising. Of remaining 12, seven publications (20 percent, Fig. 1) agreed to editorial service in exchange for advertising or cash.

To the credit of all publications surveyed, no website would accept additional funds in exchange for award.  However, it should be noted that our team discovered several instances of questionable ethics in a very short time span, without even supplying the publications product or payout.

While I’m not suggesting that this is right, it really shouldn’t be surprising that a practice that can be found in just about every business also happens within the blogging world.

Conversation Tags: blogging, bloggers, payola