21
Jun

Sponsorships and Blogger Hypocrisy

Posted by Steven Hodson in Saturday, June 21st 2008      

Why are your ethics better than mine? Yesterday I wrote up a post over on Mashable about Sponsorships being the dark horse of monetization for blogs and while the reaction wasn’t totally the cranky old fart is off his rocker type there were a some things mentioned in the comments that kinda rubbed me the wrong way. It is as if there is a definite dividing line where sponsorships would be acceptable and where they wouldn’t be.

It seems that unless you are a part of a blog network or some big name blogger the idea that you would even think of stepping beyond the bounds of ad networks and god forbid go looking for deals of your own then you are stepping beyond your pay grade and need to be put back in your place. The most common method of slapping forward looking independent bloggers back into place is by calling their ethics into question.

While big names like Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb or even TechCrunch can go out and get mega sponsorship deals and no-one questions their ethics or the ability to maintain editorial distance from their sponsors the same doesn’t apply to mid-level independent bloggers. We aren’t talking about piddling little couple of grand sponsorship deals either as in many cases these are deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Instead we get the attitude as expressed by Daniel Tunkelang in his comment to my Mashable post

I hate the ubiquity of the ad-based model as much as the next person. But I’m skeptical about sponsorship as a replacement. At least with ad-based sites, I have no reason to believe that the writer is skewing the content to favor the advertisers–mainly because the writer doesn’t even know who the advertisers are. In contrast, a writer with a sponsor may be beholden to that sponsor. Even if he or she isn’t, that possibility will taint my appreciation of the site.

In the same breath of course he does declare that he gives full disclosure to his employer who helps sponsor his own blog.

The other common argument is that all these big boys that get these sponsorship deals is because they are a brand and that is what the sponsors are looking to hook into. This apparently implies that bloggers like myself aren’t capable of having a brand at the size I am or that any mid-level blogger is incapable of having a brand identification that indicates that they have a following. Tell you what do a Google search for cranky old fart and tell me what shows up on page one of the results; but because I’m not one of the big boys the moment I look to even try the sponsorship route my ethics are automatically called into question.

Even though anyone reading my blog knows that I kowtow to no-one and that I have what I think is a strong developing brand I should be happy with what little the ad networks want to dole out after serving up ads that 99% of the time have nothing to do with what I have been writing about – whether it be products or ideas.

As for ethics being called into question I think that is between the blogger and their readers not the larger community to pass judgement on (and one I’d be willing to put to my own readers in a follow up poll). After all if you can have people like John Gruber from Daring Fireball be literally sold out for sponsorship deals on his RSS feed each and every week and not have it negatively affect his readership what right does some nebulous blogging community to call my ethics into question.

Or how about software authors such as Nick Bradbury (FeedDemon author) who would have preferred the option of sponsoring a blog who was an advocate of his product as he said to me in an email when I asked him about the idea

But I can say that when I ran my own company, I would’ve found your approach far more appealing than banner ads, etc.

And then we have John Furrier who suggests that this could be the new road forward for bloggers of all levels

Here is a great post on mashable by Steve Hodson who talks about sponsorships on blogs. As readers of my blog know I’ve been bullish on sponsorship for years now. Bloggers are soon to become their own as networks.

One more time I repeat (like starting right now) – Bloggers will be their AD NETWORK (not good news for John Battelle).

Personally I think that every blogger that is in the process of building a brand around themselves has the same rights as any of the big blog networks or big names in the blogging world to avail themselves of things like sponsorships in order to monetize their work. To call their ethics into question because they believe they have a brand that a company would be interested in associating themselves but not question the ethics of those big boys already making hundreds of thousands of dollars doing the same thing is hypocritical at the very least.

So I put this question to my readers with the following poll – would you trust me any less if I accepted sponsorship deals here on WinExtra:

(note if you can’t see the following poll you will have to visit the site to make your vote count)

If WinExtra ran Sponsorship style ads would you trust the blog any less?

View Results

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As with any polls that are run here on WinExtra I will always take into account the results in any decisions I make.

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under: The Social Web    

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Viewing 19 Comments

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    In case it isn't clear from my comment, I do expect that many people who read my blog will suspect me of shilling for my company. That's precisely the drawback of sponsorship. I practice full disclosure, but disclosing potential conflicts of interest doesn't eliminate them.

    To be clear, my sponsorship situation seems a bit different than most of what I see discussed. I'm in a situation more like that of Matt Cutts at Google. I didn't seek out sponsorship for my blog; rather, I can't get myself unsponsored without quitting my day job.

    Let me try to make my point one more time. AdSense, problematic as it is, is a fairly anonymous source of income. Sponsors are not. Hence, even though all advertising-supported content raises the question of how beholden the writer is to the advertisers, AdSense sidesteps this question by diluting the relationship between the write and the advertisers through anonymity.

    No one has actually responded to this argument. Is that because you all agree, or because you don't find it worthy of a response?
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    No, it's my opinion that people are primed to accept a sponsored blog, and has very little to do with their opinion of the relevant materials. Hypothetically, then, we could say that you would actually lose readers if your sponsorship were subtracted. Nothing here is so cut and dried, as it reads from the sponsored bloggers, but more like Star Trek. Well maybe Star Wars . . .
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    Daniel,

    (Note still working on first pot of coffee so not responsible for grammatical and other such errors :) )

    The problem with AdSense is that it is stacked in favor of the big blogs with enough traffic to make up for the large cut that AdSense takes from the process. The amount of money that actually makes it out to the blogger is minor and the smaller you get the smaller the percentage. I agree that the benefit is that there is a "wall" between the content and the advertising however what I don't agree with is the fact that independent bloggers are being made out to look likethey are unable to maintain that "wall" themselves in the case of sponsorships. This isn't the case when it comes to the big name blogs as they cut sponsorhip deals all the time plus they have access to revenue streams that the independents don't.

    Quite often you will find the independant bloggers putting the same or even more effort into their content than any of the mjors but yet when they try and play in the same advertising/sponsorship field they are being told they aren't reliable enough.

    The other big problem I have with AdSense is that its value as an advertiser is becoming diluted more and more because of their apparent turning of a blind eye to the ever increasing numbers of splogs, AdSense farms and landing page AdSense garbage piles especially from within their own Blogger platform - which has to be one of the worst offenders.

    It is no wonder that all bloggers are beginning to look more and more for alternatives. AdSense may have been Google's golden goose but through greed and lack of attention to the pollution in their own backyard they are in real danger of killing off that goose.
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    Steve, points taken. As someone who doesn't get any revenue from my blog, I concede my inability to fully appreciate what it's like for those whose livelihood depend on it.

    I particularly like your (and others') point about sponsorship being temporary but reputation being permanent. The corollary is that a blogger has to establish some of that reputation first--not just to get sponsors but also to convince readers that the sponsors are not influencing the content. Hence, sponsorship a useful for bloggers who are not quite in the majors, but not for those who are just starting up.

    What makes me sad is that we're in a world where readers, myself included, no longer expect to pay for content because the ad-supported model (AdSense, directly sponsored, etc.) dominates. I hate seeing the web go the way of network television. You think that by now we as a society would have learned that you get what you pay for.
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    Actually Daniel I (personally) have no problem with bloggers supporting themselves with an ad or sposnsorship model. What I do have a problem with is what I call the blogging purity patrol who feel that blogs should never be ad or sponsor supported. Typically these are people who have come into the game very early on and have been able to convert their name power into other lucrative deals - speaking fees, conference appearances etc etc etc. The fact is that not everyone will have access to those type of deals but they are being told that it is wrong to want to earn a living from their writing abilities and the desire of people to read what they have to say.

    For me that is the most hypocritical load of bullshit to come out of this form of communication. We're suppose to give away what we do while they collect on book deals or consulting fees. We're looked down on for cashing Google checks or signing sponsorship deals while they cozy up together in Europe or California or Silicon Valley collecting their speaking fees and having their expenses paid for.

    Really whose actions are more questionable when you think about it.
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    I'm not familiar with this "purity patrol", but I think it's absurd for anyone--particularly a financially successful blogger--to object to how a blogger tries to monetize his or her content, and I hope my comments did not come across that way.

    But I do think it is unhealthy that content consumers have gotten used to "free" as the only model. Of course, consumers still pay indirectly--who do we think is ultimately paying the ad or sponsorship fees? But, if we're going to talk about cutting out the middleman, the ultimate way to do that is to have consumers pay directly for content. Unfortunately, that model is, at least for the time being, out of vogue.
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    Daniel .. first - no your comments didn't come across like that - at least not to me. AS for the "purity patrol" that is a reference I came up with myself to refer to those early bloggers who have never had advertising on their bloggers and are vehemently against it because "they" think that advertising has no place in blogging and that you need to do it for he love of it and make your money from the "branding" opportunities.
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    At the end of the day the best thing about sponsors is that you can turn them down. If you're truly serious about ethics then you simply won't take a sponsorship for any company you feel uncomfortable with.

    Everybody has a right to make money from the content they produce (whether the should or can or not is an entirely different story) and at the end of the day we all live or die by our perceived integrity.

    We mess up, our readers will leave and we will be hit where it hurts most. In the wallet.
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    I don't know that I could live with being sponsored by a company or product I couldn't live with ethically, but I'm open to just about everything else. Especially Five Star Bars. They could just pay me in chocolate and I'd still come out ahead.
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    I'd probably be the same about hardware :) but then that's the geek in me not to mention I'm in bad need of some. Even there though I would be still picky as hell. For example I would be really hard pressed to accept a sponsorship from say Western Digital since I have had the most problems with theirt drives. Nvidia would be another one I would have to think hard on because I think they let down a lot of people with Vista compatibility. It all boils down to choices I guess and I would rather err on the side of what my gut tells me is the right thing to do not have the dollar signs dictate who I would accept.
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    Was literally just discussing this with a former client. Right there with Allen. If someone feels trust in a website or blog, it will organically grow. On the other hand, I think there are way too many new bloggers out there being led to believe it's easy to get rich overnight and wasting a lot of time .... Keep it up pal. Good dialog
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    The most important part is trust.
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    I agree with you whole heartedly Allen but it sure seems that the impression being given is that if you aren't one of the big names in the business then your ethics and trust value are automatically suspect. In some cases I think it should be the other way around - but then that's me :)
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    my friend - you aren't alone :)

    my deal is simple - when you come to CN, I want you to learn to trust me, and I want to trust you - it's a relationship we have - and I hope it's something that sets CN apart from other blogs. I may not have big traffic but I know that my readers trust that I won't make decisions that will harm or put them in a bad place. Maybe it's my background, who knows. I think too many big bloggers have forgotten who made them. I will never forget the following: you better be nice to people on the way up because you will see the same people on the way down.

    I've turned down plenty of sponsorships over the last 15 yrs, ones that would have made me a bit better off - instead I live with little money but know I am doing the right thing. They say that pays off in the end (i hope soon ha)
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    and can i point you to something i wrote about a week ago:
    http://www.centernetworks.com/social-advertisin...

    it's amazing how we talk about this - but look at celebrities - they will put their name on anything - do you think derek jeter really thinks gatorade is the best? of course not, it's the dollar bills ya'all.
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    Funny that Seagate has never asked me to do anything. In fact, they wanted to make it clear that they sponsor my video show. The CEO likes that show because I get a wide variety of people in the tech industry on it. And, anyway, let's say that someone did sponsor your show and asked you to do something abnormal: wouldn't your readers be able to see through that? I think I would, especially if you were transparent about the sponsorship. Anyway, sponsors are temporary. Your reputation is permanent. Are you willing to throw your repuation under the bus just for a few grand? Are people really that cynical? Personally I'd celebrate all the companies that are helping people create great content. In fact, that makes me think that I should thank everyone's sponsors on my own blog.
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    Steven, As I was reading your poll questions, I found that there wasn't one that exactly summarized my feelings. Something like "I think it's fine, but every time you write about the sponsor or their industry segment I have a new filter to think through" or something like that. In Scoble's case it works for me and I don't think too much about it. That's because he's not writing about Seagate e