Shooting at Bubbles

From the very first time that a blog ran an ad in a sidebar there has been a number of different arguments that have constantly been brought up again and again. For those of you who don’t have a blog or work as a writer for a blog network this idea of arguing about advertising may seem kind of stupid but within the blogging world it can get to be pretty serious.

For example there is one faction that are vehemently against the idea of blogs running ads. To them doing so pollutes the viewpoint of the blogger and affect the way they write about things especially if it is a subject that could be impacted by an advertiser.

On the flip side of the coin we have those who see nothing wrong with running ads and to be sure ads have lead to some pretty powerful blogging networks being built up. The argument that these types of blogs like to use is the same one that MSM print has used and that is that there is a chinese wall between the editorial side and the advertising side of the blogs.

What this chinese wall idea is suppose to mean is that the advertising side of the business is always kept at arms length from the editorial side and therefor can’t influence what is being written on the news side.

Well I can tell you unequivocally that in some cases this is a load of bullshit.

I know for a fact that some blogs tell their writers to be as ruthlessly snarky as possible. Some are told only to write only happy posts on a specific day because that is what the readers want. At the same time there are also blogs telling their writers to be nice to specific companies because of huge distribution or ad deals. Now don’t bother trying to tell me otherwise on any of those points because for two of them I have verifiable proof but I will not say who, what or how I know these facts – so don’t ask.

The fact is that it does happen and in the case of larger blogs who do this they are doing irreparable damage to the reputation of blogs. As well they are fucking with the integrity of their writers and that is terribly wrong. We are a new medium and we have a chance to set new standards; or rather we have the chance to validate the standards that came to us from mainstream media.

But by letting any advertiser; directly or indirectly, affect how a blog is doing its job, blogging becomes nothing more that a digital version of The National Enquirer except that no-one will give a shit what we have to say. In the readers eyes we will have become nothing more than a rolling electronic infomercial.

We have one of the greatest chances here for professional news and opinion blogs; whether individually run or a network, to prove that the chinese wall can exist. It not only benefits the blogs but also if the advertisers get off of their high horses it helps them; and can give them social media credibility.

Blogs might like to say right now that they aren’t influenced by advertising dollars and in most cases; especially with things like AdSense this is the case. However when you get into the realm of dealing with  individual corporations who are running long term campaigns or sponsorships that all changes.

When you have bloggers being told by the blog owners or editors that certain negative news about a given company is now off limits because that company has signed a very lucrative deal with the blog it is nothing short of advertising influenced censorship. There are no other words that come even close to describing it any other way than what it is – censorship for the right dollar amount. If you don’t think this is happening think again because trust me when I say it is.

Not only is this damaging the blogging reputation is is also exemplifying the shortsightedness of companies that do this. They say that they are getting involved in social media and the blogging world and showing their support via their ad dollars.

The problem here is that it only shows us all that company isn’t interested in learning or improving from the growing voice of the people. For these companies social media and blogs is just another media for them to try and control while spinning nonstop good news about their products.

In fact they should be among the first to embrace the feedback that things like blogs can bring to the table because it is coming from people who care enough about the product or services being advertised to point out what is wrong or how the company has gone off the rails. Instead of the companies accepting the fact that there going to be times where they might get slapped around and using that to grow and improve they instead try to strong arm their way around it using their massive ad budgets as the carrot. The problem with this is that when things like this get discovered it is no longer a case of something that can be sweep under the carpet but rather a full scale train wreck.

The time is coming for bloggers where they are going to have to really learn what the integrity of their content is really worth and that no amount of dollars can compensate for that when you readers lose faith in what you are writing. For advertisers the lesson can be even more important because not only do they lose another avenue to market their goods they are also in danger of a consumer backlash right across their product line and services.

The time is now here where both bloggers and advertisers need to prove to the readers that the chinese wall does indeed exist, it does work and everyone wins when we stay on our own side of that wall.

But the real winner is the reader who can trust his or her sources of news and information as well as respecting the advertisers for not once again trying to manipulate them. Consumers can be incredibly loyal when they know that they aren’t being made a fool of and isn’t that what both the blogs and advertisers what – consumers who respect them and are loyal to their brands.