Is Sponored Tweeting/Blogging Ethical? Your Opinion, Please
I just answered a reporter query about sponsored blogs and sponsored tweets–specifically whether they should be disclosed. And that led me to meditate on the question of whether it is ethical to ghostwrite tweets and blogs for other people.
I have a very clear opinion on both of these scenarios. But I’m going to shut up and see what y’all think, for a few days, and then I’ll tell you my thoughts, and the reasons behind them.
What do you think?
1. Should a blogger or tweeter disclose sponsorship?
2. Is it ethical to ghostwrite blogs and tweets?
To keep the lawyers happy: unless you specifically state otherwise, posting your response gives me the nonexclusive right (but not the obligation) to quote you in an article, blog post, and/or book
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
A blogger or twitterer should certainly disclose sponsorship. It is getting very hard to find independent reviews of anything because the search engines are all clogged with these fake ‘review’ sites where the ‘reviewer’ is getting large affiliate commissions on all the products. In fact this is one of the big ‘new’ models being pushed by a lot of internet marketing ‘gurus’.
I absolutely hate it– and if I do (rarely) decide to buy a product recommended on one of those pages I make sure to go directly to the site and not through their affiliate link. I’ll sometimes do the reverse with marketers I know and trust (and who are upfront about their affiliate links) and will check to see if they are offering a product I want to buy in order to give them the commission.
I’m less clear about ghost-writing. I think most people have come to understand and accept that celebrities and politicians are not going to be able to write everything themselves or respond personally to the thousands or even millions who contact them. And if we accept this for ‘important people’ should we really have a double standard for the less well-known? And if so, where should the cut-off line be?
A blogger or twitterer should certainly disclose sponsorship. It is getting very hard to find independent reviews of anything because the search engines are all clogged with these fake ‘review’ sites where the ‘reviewer’ is getting large affiliate commissions on all the products. In fact this is one of the big ‘new’ models being pushed by a lot of internet marketing ‘gurus’.
I absolutely hate it– and if I do (rarely) decide to buy a product recommended on one of those pages I make sure to go directly to the site and not through their affiliate link. I’ll sometimes do the reverse with marketers I know and trust (and who are upfront about their affiliate links) and will check to see if they are offering a product I want to buy in order to give them the commission.
I’m less clear about ghost-writing. I think most people have come to understand and accept that celebrities and politicians are not going to be able to write everything themselves or respond personally to the thousands or even millions who contact them. And if we accept this for ‘important people’ should we really have a double standard for the less well-known? And if so, where should the cut-off line be?
Absolutely. If someone is promoting something because they believe in it, I value their endorsement differently than if I know they’re being paid.
When Google and other search engines first sold sponsored links, they didn’t disclose the positions were paid for. Public outcry forced them to indicate as much, and I suspect it will happen here, as well.
Absolutely. If someone is promoting something because they believe in it, I value their endorsement differently than if I know they’re being paid.
When Google and other search engines first sold sponsored links, they didn’t disclose the positions were paid for. Public outcry forced them to indicate as much, and I suspect it will happen here, as well.