MappingTheWeb //

Let me take the time to tell everyone about a company I disrespect. Now I’m not usually a negative or cynical person, but in this case there’s no holding back. I HATE PayPerPost.

Why the anger and outrage? Let’s just say that this new service jeopardizes the trust of the entire blogging community, as well as the basic concept of news reporting. The idea behind PayPerPost is a marketplace where advertisers pay bloggers to post about their company. Seems a little devious, but there’s more. All blog posts MUST be positive and transparency around payment is optional. In other words, you may read what you think is a legitimate blog post from your favourite blogger about a great new company with an exceptional product or service - but little do you know, he/she doesn’t give a @#$% about the company or the product, but rather did it for the money. Sounds very honest and sincere. I absolutely despise this model and I do not respect any blogger (sell-out) who engages in this practice. Blog posts should be written by the fingers of the blogger, not by the chequebook of the corporation. This evil company was first brought to my attention by TechCrunch in late June. On Tuesday, the company will announce that it has raised a round of $3 million. Those VCs make me sick. Shame on you.

PayPerPost is a pretty decent name though. I guess IllegitimateBlogging.com was already taken. I like this company about as much as Mike Arrington likes Jigsaw. I wish you all the worst, PayPerPost.