Jason Calacanis Whines Again
October 7th, 2006Jason Calacanis, also known as the Web 2.0 Copycat, is complaining again about an idea that he probably wished he had come up with himself. After copying digg.com and paying digg’s top submitters to start the clone site for Netscape, he is now taking jabs at PayPerPost.com, a company allowing blog advertising revenue to be earned by smaller blogs so that smaller companies can get their products out there. I don’t know why he hates the idea so much, but it seems to be quite popular with advertisers as well as bloggers. I say more power to you PayPerPost.com! Maybe Mr. Calacanis is just upset that he hasn’t figured out a way to rip it off yet.
October 7th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
The reason I hate the idea so much is because it is covert marking. No one likes to be tricked or deceived–do you? Even worse is getting tricked and deceived by someone who you consider a friend who is doing it for money.
If PayPerPost *forced* their bloggers to put in the first sentence a line that says “I’m be compensated by INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE to write this blog post,” I wouldn’t have a problem with it. However, PayPerPost can’t do that because no advertiser would want to look desperate like that.
There is a reason why PayPerPost bloggers and advertisers are covert–they are ashamed of what they are doing.
If PayPerPost and their bloggers are so proud of what they are doing they should be 100% transparent with their advertising. They should expose their advertisers on their site and under each advertiser have a list of the bloggers and their blog posts about that advertiser.
This will let the public understand what is going on.
I’m not against paying people to blog obviously–Weblogs, Inc. has paid bloggers more money than anyone in the world–but I do have a problem with deceptive advertising.
best,
Jason
October 7th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
JC is just jealious because he can’t have it all.
October 7th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Jason is right on the money (in so many ways). F*** PPP. Has the human condition sunk so low that people can actually justify trying to make a buck by lying to friends? Screw that. Have some self-respect and go earn yourself a decent dollar. This is a crap off-the-list blog anyway.