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Blogging and advertisement...

I never made a secret out of it: I am not too dirty to put ads on my site.
As one of the 'advisors for blogging' of Adhese, I knew why I was interested: to make the best out of it for both advertisers and bloggers.
Why, in opposite of many other bloggers, don't I mind ads, you wonder.
Because it isn't different from traditional media: magazines are full of advertisements, and everybody will agree that mostly it doesn't influence the articles. Secondly, in comparison to journalists, who get a wage for doing so, bloggers are just doing it for fun, but indeed are putting effort in it too. The extra's of ads are welcome.
So little banners in the sidebar ain't nothing spectacular. They are to me what ads in a magazine or newspaper are. With that 'accent': I will never put ads that don't go along with my view on life.

So why do I hesitate when it comes to 'goodies'? Because it feels different. It feels like someone is so nice to give you something, but want something in return: 'buzz' (and most likely 'positive buzz' you hear us think.)

Again, I would like to pronounce, also in this matter, to me, a blogger should be seen nothing different than a journalist. Many magazines (like Clickx, ComputerMagazine and many many others) get goodies, computers, gizmo, games, books,.. to review.
And marketeers know damn well why they offer goodies to bloggers.
As an example google 'lekker restaurant gent' or 'kapper gent', you'll see bloggers score high.

So at this point, my vision on 'goodies' is as follows: see me as a journalist. You want to send me goodies? Feel free to do so. But leave me the freedom. Maybe I want to write about it, maybe not. Maybe I like it, maybe not. I promise the marketeers and my readers an honest opinion.

Technorati Tags: advertising, goodies, marketing, blogging

I'll also ALWAYS put a disclaimer. Saying that I received this or that.
Because I do believe in bloggers ethics.

It is funny to see one of the first articles I stumbled upon when searching for blogger ethics, is mentioning the same things as I am thinking: Now, the more interesting question is whether it's ethical for a blogger to accept a promotional giveaway from a vendor or not. And for this issue, I think that there are two important principles to consider: the principle of disclosure, and the principle of individual freedom.

I note down:
-If you disclose that you have received something gratis in a manner that lets a reader know your bias, then you have fulfilled your ethical obligation.
-...isn't it obvious that that influence is based on trust, on being a trustworthy, credible and thoughtful analyst or commentator? That being true, then surely failing to disclose a necessary bias, failing to inform readers that you are being influenced by vendors, will fairly quickly produce a loss of credibility and ultimately a descent from leader to wannabe.

And there it comes: if you are not honest to your readers, your credibility is lost. And then everything you ever wrote is not credible anymore.
So it is in the bloggers interest to speak the trust, just like it is in the magazine's interest to write the truth.

I do add one personal extra item: I don't like 'negativism'.
That's why I will often choose 'not' to write on something rather than writing something negative.
I don't like the tendency of 'nagging on a blog'. The world is sad enough as it is... (OK, I nag about that eough ;) )
Any advertiser that contacts me will hear thisstory: maybe I won't write on it. (And chances get higher when I don't like the item , I won't spend time on it.)
One might suggest that that isn't fair to my readers. But it is still me who chooses to write on something or not.
Right?

So what do you think?
Would you accept goodies? Or do you feel biased?

Posted on August 8, 2007
in structured thoughts

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