Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Why is the blogosphere so riled up about PayPerPost? I asked Ted Murphy, founder and CEO, just that, yesterday at the Future of Online Advertising Conference in New York City.

Murphy told me:

“There are two types of bloggers, some that consider themselves “journalists,” and they won’t provide “sponsored content.” But there is a much larger audience that looks at their blogs in a different way, and thinks they can run their blogs as they want.”

How large is that larger blogger community? I asked Murphy that as well: The PayPerPost network comprises 27,000 bloggers and 6500 advertisers to date, Murphy said.

Murphy described his product as “advertorial.” I have also characterized it as such, in repsonse to the most recent TechCrunch lambast over bloggers supposedly “selling their souls” thanks to PayPerPost.

Are media souls really in danger of being compromised merely because of one new advertorial entrant into the publishing market though?

Michael Arrington is appalled by PayPerPost, and, by extension the 27,000 bloggers that are, according to him, ”selling their souls” (on the cheap, however).

But, what about the long standing media practice of paid advertorial content “proudly” presented by the world’s leading publishers, should that practice not be a target for indignation as well?

Moreover, how about the impending Google PPA advertorial ad product which will more than likely be embraced by the legions of bloggers already profiting from Google AdSense?

The new “Paid” but not quite identified as “Sponsored” Links Google advertising product, Pay-Per-Action (PPA) text link format, encourages the ”blending” of paid for ecommerce transactional links into publisher editorial, but does not require any upfront “advertorial” disclaimers by AdSense publishers for the Google ad product being shown to consumers “blended” with “objective,” non-paid for content.

I asked the head of Google AdSense point blank yesterday if the soon to be released AdSense CPA (or PPA) “embedded” text links do not risk the advertising “evil” that Google vocally states its opposition to.

Of course not, was the not surprising, but also not quite accurate, Kim Malone response. SEE my report: Google Exec Skirts CPA Advertising Evil

Google is “excited” about its new PPA “pricing model.”

How excited will consumers be, however, if they are unwittingly mislead by the inherent ambiguities of the new Google advertising and ecommerce engine, to be distributed via the ubiquitous Google AdSense network?

A “disclaimer” upon mouseover is not in the spririt of Google.com’s “Sponsored Links” stringent policy. 

What’s more, how excited will bloggers fueled by Google AdSense be when they enthusiastically “blend” Google AdWords “paid links” into their editorial?

Merriam-Webster describes “advertorial” as a “blend” of “advertisement and editorial.” As in the Google AdSense PPA “blending” advice to its AdSense network re Google advertisers?:

Publishers can place them in line with other text to better blend the ad and promote your product.

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN