Comments on: Paying bloggers to write about products, services

By: Chin

Chin — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 08:11:53 +0000

Hi Max,
Good for you. If this were applied to traditional print journalism, the choice would be crystal clear. I agree with your analysis 100%.

By: Advocrazy » Getting paid by company to review their product?

Advocrazy » Getting paid by company to review their product? — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:34:16 +0000

[...] In his personal blog, Limpag said he was “uncomfortable” with the idea of getting paid to do reviews since it goes against his own training as a journalist. [...]

By: Sef

Sef — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 21:47:15 +0000

Conflict of interest.

By: wilson ng

wilson ng — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 11:51:56 +0000

Max,

I think you should go ahead and do it. Just be transparent. After all, they are paying you to review the article. If you have something nice to say about it, say it. if you don’t like it, then say it is no good. What they are paying is not your endorsement, it is your objective valuation of the product.

If I believe right, Joel on software a famous blogger, reviewed the item that was sent to him for free ( it was a celphone), and he wrote in his blog frankly how he did not like it.

By: The Unlawyer » Brand-Building in the Blogosphere

The Unlawyer » Brand-Building in the Blogosphere — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:27:39 +0000

[...] I suppose it’s more than just a coincidence that the issue of blogger endorsements is being discussed nowadays, now that Philippine bloggers are exploring more ways to monetize their blog content beyond the usual Adsense/Adbrite/Text Link Ads advertising model. Blogger-journalist Max Limpag who recently reviewed ReviewMe’s business model of brokering between clients who want to pay bloggers for product or service reviews, isn’t comfortable with that idea: “I’m also concerned with the effect of the solicited review on blog posts. Sure, you can tell yourself and your readers that despite the payment, you’re doing an unbiased review but the fact that you’re being paid for it by the subject of the article affects the credibility of your post.” [...]

By: Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » The undecided

Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose » Blog Archive » The undecided — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:41:46 +0000

[...] Leon Kilat on media ethics and blogging -can you accept payment for reviews, for example? MediaShift on how difficult it is to judge blogs in a contest. [...]

By: Ethics of Blogging for Paid Posts » @ Ambot ah! [ technology news and reviews ]

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 03:33:42 +0000

[...] Another perspective I just realized was that of journalists turned bloggers, like Max Limpag. He explained that paying bloggers to write about products, services: I’m uncomfortable with the idea. For me it is getting paid to influence your editorial judgment. Writing is an act of editorial judgment. The fact that you are reporting about something means you think the subject is worth writing about. I’m not saying that ReviewMe is bad. But it is bad for blogger-journalists because of the nature of their main job. It’s bad for bloggers who subject their site to journalistic standards. [...]

By: gibbs cadiz

gibbs cadiz — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:07:58 +0000

“Still, I’m uncomfortable with the idea. For me it is getting paid to influence your editorial judgment. Writing is an act of editorial judgment.”

I agree completely. I also checked my site’s price with the program. It was about $40 (I’ve been blogging for less than 2 months). Attractive enough amount, but the idea disturbs me. Caloy Conde (a friend and a one-time colleague at the Manila Times) is right. There’s no way we journalist-bloggers can get away with one set of standards for print and another for the Web. Otherwise, all our pieces would end up being suspect.