SOMEWHAT FRANK

ReviewMe: Ethical Alternative To PayPerPost For Bloggers To Get Paid?

ReviewMe, a product recently launched by TextLinkAds, offers bloggers the opportunity to make money for writing product reviews. ReviewMe has a similar business model to PayPerPost.com which I questioned whether it was a potential splog generator last month. ReviewMe has improved upon the PayPerPost.com model by creating a ranked marketplace and currency for a blog post. ReviewMe does not promise a post will be positive and also has every paid review add a disclosure explaining the post is a paid write-up. This disclosure helps to maintain the credibility of both the blogger and the ReviewMe product. Also reviews need to be 200 words or more.

With ReviewMe bloggers can actually capitalize on the time they spend reviewing a product, which in many cases is a product they would have reviewed anyway regardless of whether or not they were being paid. As I receive similar review leads via the blogosphere underground.

Rev2.org recently reviewed the ReviewMe and explained that even though ReviewMe is better than PayPerPost.com in handling ethical concerns they would still never participate in the program. TechCrunch had similar feelings on the product. While others think getting paid for writing reviews might not be so bad after all. Understandably, there are also bloggers getting paid by ReviewMe to review the ReviewMe product.

I just signed up for the service to test it out and I noticed that a number of familiar blogs like Google Blogoscoped, PaulStamatiou.com and TechnologyEvangelist.com were already signed up for the program. Upon claiming my blog I found that a post on Somewhat Frank can be purchased for $250 based on a ranking system that ReviewMe has put in place to determine a blog's value. Blog value takes Alexa, Technorati and other blog details into account to determine a rank. If I were to agree to write a post via ReviewMe, I would walk away with $125.  However, this does not mean the review has to be positive in nature, it could totally tear the product to pieces and I would still get paid. So why wouldn't a blogger want to take part in this program. It is not asking you to lie about a product. It is just asking you to review it and be honest.

I am interested to see how many and what types of requests I receive for product reviews since I only write about things that I find interesting. In my opinion, this model is very similar to being paid to be in a focus group for a consumer product. The only difference in the case of ReviewMe is that the focus group data is being exposed for the public to see in the form of a blog post. So I am extremely confident my current editorial filtration system will keep Somewhat Frank true to its distinct voice. I just hope the rest of the bloggers participating can show the same level of discretion.

Bottom-line:  Most bloggers would not mind getting paid. While advertisers and marketers might not know how to reach out bloggers for an honest review of their latest product. ReviewMe helps to solve this by creating a legitimate marketplace to connect products with reviewers. Sounds good but let's just hope bloggers can stay true to how they feel about a particular product and not fill the blogosphere with splog posts.

PayPerPost: Splog or Blog Post Creator?

PayPerPost, who recently announced $3 million of first round funding, is a web site that offers bloggers money for writing blog posts about a specific product. PayPerPost allows a blog post board which enables marketers and advertisers to request a blog post for a set price about a specific product or service. TechCrunch posted interesting write-ups (here and here) and a recent TalkCrunch podcast episode discussing the funding announcement, the unique business model and the ethical questions swarming around the product. PayPerPost is really walking the ethical line between good and evil. I think it was created to help connect marketers and advertisers with grassroots product reviews.

Splog Post Generator?
Is PayPerPost producing spam blog posts to optimize search engine ranking? Is it a human splog generator? That is a great question, and after much thought I have come to the conclusion, that it really depends on the blog, writer and the actual write-up. For example, if someone is getting paid to write a post and therefore is not objective in a review then of course PayPerPost is NOT a good thing at all. There are a number of blogs that produce high quality and very objective content, so could this destroy the purity of the blogosphere for everyone?

Blog Post Generator?
The flip-side of the debate, while bloggers get paid for their work the product offers leads to bloggers who may have run out of things to write about. Therefore, bloggers may find the leads from PayPerPost helpful in generating blog post ideas or leads. As long as bloggers remain objective and non-evil the service could be a win-win for marketers, advertisers and bloggers alike – and everyone lives happily ever after without fear of boogiemen, terrorist or natural disasters.

Maintaining Perspective / Keeping It Real
It is likely that just about every blogger that maintains a consistent flow of content has received emails from marketers and advertisers introducing them to products and services to preview as explained in my previous write-up exposing the blogosphere underground. When I do receive these emails previewing new products and services, I take a very close look at the product or service and I leave it up to my own discretion if the product or service is worthy of a write-up. Though it may sound similar to the PayPerPost.com model the major difference is that in receiving emails from marketers and advertisers I am NOT getting paid and therefore I can remain totally objective and only write about things I want to write about. Another example can be drawn from my recent move to join AOL. Since joining AOL I have written a few reviews about new AOL products and have been sure to keep my perspective legit. It I don't like them I would point out the things I don't like in my review. Maintaining my objective and frank perspective in my reviews is of utmost importance since it keeps Somewhat Frank, fresh and real – it also keeps my conscience clear.

Bottom-line: It is difficult to say at this point the impact PayPerPost will have on the blogosphere - it is a heated debated. It is obvious that PayPerPost has created a new business model which draws comparisons to Overture’s creation of the pay per click advertising model which was also debated but later perfected by Google with AdSense.

Blogosphere 50M Strong: NPR Discusses

Earlier this week, chief executive and founder of Technorati, David Sifry released his quarterly, State of the Blogosphere report. David revealed that Technorati is currently tracking approximately 50 million blogs which means the blogosphere is still doubling every five to six months. This is pretty amazing growth and one would think it would eventually start to trail off. The report was summarized as follows:

• Technorati is now tracking over 50 Million Blogs.
• The Blogosphere is over 100 times bigger than it was just 3 years ago.
• Today, the blogosphere is doubling in size every 200 days, or about once every 6 and a half months.
• From January 2004 until July 2006, the number of blogs that Technorati tracks has continued to double every 5-7 months.
• About 175,000 new weblogs were created each day, which means that on average, there are more than 2 blogs created each second of each day.
• About 8% of new blogs get past Technorati's filters, even if it is only for a few hours or days.
• About 70% of the pings Technorati receives are from known spam sources, but we drop them before we have to send out a spider to go and index the splog.
• Total posting volume of the blogosphere continues to rise, showing about 1.6 Million postings per day, or about 18.6 posts per second.
• This is about double the volume of about a year ago.
• The most prevalent times for English-language posting is between the hours of 10AM and 2PM Pacific time, with an additional spike at around 5PM Pacific time

As a follow-up to the report, David Sifry discussed the numbers on NPR in a conversation with Scott Simon. You can listen to the discussion here.

Krun.ch: Compress and Send Files Fast

Krun.ch is an online tool that allows you to compress, store and send files online. Krun.ch is unique in that it is only a temporary storage solution as files expire after 24 hours. Prior to expiration a user can send files around as they see fit  not to mention users will be able to keep track of your krunched and unkrunched files and easily access.

Krun.ch is the latest creation of the young and talented developer Kailash Nadh who also created the popular ping engine Pingoat and splog search engine SplogSpot before selling them both in March 2006. I find that all of Kailash projects are simple to use which is a characteristic I thoroughly appreciate in his work. While I understand there are a number of similar services like DropSend (highlighted previously) and Whale Mail among others I would recommend giving Krun.ch a whirl. For additional details on Krun.ch be sure to check out the Krun.ch Blog.

Blogosphere Still Doubling

David Sifry, founder and CEO of blog search engine Technorati, has posted his quarterly State of the Blogosphere report on the growth of the blogosphere. The report dittos many of trends he mentioned in his last report in January 2006. Sifry touches on the splog (spam blog) problem in addition to the sping (spam pings) that have been corrupting the blogosphere. The report also addresses posting volume trends in saying:

"...it certainly appears that technology product launches attract great interest in the blogosphere - seems that we just can't restrain our inner geekiness when products like the iPod Video and the Intel Macintoshes were launched. Posting volumes on those two days even eclipsed blog coverage and commentary of the Superbowl and the 2006 State of the Union speech."

According to the April 2006 State of the Blogosphere report:

• Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
• The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
• It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
• On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
• 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
• Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour

Hugh MacLeod extrapolates the numbers here. The bottom-line: the state of the blogosphere is strong and growing stronger everyday!

*David Sifry image thanks to Laughing Squid.

Spam 2.0: Splog Examined

This past Tuesday (January 24, 2006) spam was the topic of a column by Tom Spring on PCWorld.com. The column explains the next generation of spam and in one section title "Spam Outside The Inbox" covers the emergence of splog or spam blogs online. Splog Reporter was mentioned in the article in saying:

"Many are fighting back with special software designed to combat splogs. Still others in the anti-spam community are taking action and creating anti-splog sites like SplogSpot and Splog Reporter, where you can report abuses."

In case you do not recall, I started Splog Reporter as a "grassroots" effort to combat splog back in August of 2005 with the help of colleague and friend Jeff Johns. Jeff and I continued to move the product forward by creating new ways to report splog, like a Firefox extension, bulk upload among other features. Through our efforts I found out first hand that the blogosphere is filled with "good-willed" bloggers willing to help clean up the blogosphere.

Recently, Jeff and I have become extremely busy with our personal lives yet we continue to receive praise, questions and requests via our SR feedback page just about everyday. To be quite honest with you we cannot keep up with all of the feedback.

In realizing our short-handedness, we would be willing to bring on some help in the spirit of the movement to continue to move the product forward in a positive manner by developing out some of the requested features that we have received as feedback. If you are interested in helping us out please let me know by either commenting on this blog post or emailing me directly at: frank at splogreporter dot com. Please let me know what your skill-set as well as what makes you interested in helping out with the effort.

Somewhat Frank: 2005 Year In Review

Two-thousand five, was a year of big expectations for me and for the most part it lived up to its billing. I felt it was in some ways a year I could do no wrong. Maybe it is because I am the fifth Frank and the five at the end of 2005 was going to align and somehow bring great fortune. Call it arrogance or maybe it was just pure ignorance for other years. Nonetheless, I used the following catch phrase far too many times then I would like to repeat at this time:

"2005 is my year!"

However here is a very quick month-by-month overview of some of the happenings in my life and the Somewhat Frank blog.

January 2005 : 

• I took a new position with Tribune Interactive in the national Business Development department.
• I met and started dating my extraordinary girlfriend.  She has been wonderful and has added lots of sunshine to my year.

February 2005:

• It must have been a cold month in Chicago and I must have been studying a lot for my Masters program because I do not remember much of February.  I do recall doing some skiing and celebrating Valentine's Day, that's about it.

March 2005:

• Completed a Master of Science in CIS from Northwestern University.

April 2005:

• Another cold Chicago Cubs opening day lose at Wrigley field.

May 2005:

• Trip to Florida for some sunshine, call it a late spring break.
• As explained in my SwF post, my Google Gmail account was hacked.

June 2005:

• Took my first steps on Wrigley Field for a charity event.
• Attended Webmaster World's SEO conference in New Orleans where Ian Turner went missing but then was found.
• Somewhat Frank the blog is born with this post.

July 2005:

• Who will be #1 in Blog Search?
• Google Maps API is released and the mash-ups begin to emerge.
• Google Earth and MSN Virtual Earth do battle.
• Tribune Interactive Producer training in Chicago.
• McCormick Tribune Foundation's Freedom Museum art competition winners announced.

August 2005:

• Splog Reporter is born as a grassroots movement to combat spam blogs and quickly improved.
• Somewhat Frank gets an updated look.
• Took a weekend trip to historic Galena, Illinois.
• A visit to an Alpaca farm ... if all else fails I could raise Alpacas!?
• Tried to answer the question, what is emotional cheating?
• Attended Ryne Sandberg Day at Wrigley Field.

September 2005:

• I got mono! September was a long very month.
• Katrina devastated New Orleans. Keith Oberman and Kanye West sound off and Google Maps give us satellite images.

October 2005:

• WSJ highlights Splog and Splog Reporter.
• Wired News highlights Splog Reporter.
• The Chicago White Sox baseball team make Chicago proud.
• A trip to Georgia for some rest and relaxation.
• A quick trip to my Alma mater Purdue University to watch some Big Ten football.

November 2005:

• Somewhat Frank gets blogged by Pluck.
• Tribune Interactive launches two new Metromix entertainment sites of which I was on the strategic planning committee.
• Attended a Chicago Bears football game on a windy Sunday ... little did I know the Bears would make the playoffs and get a bye!
• Nominated as one of Chicago's Finest and helped fund-raise for a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation event.

December 2005:

• Attended the Syndicate Conference in San Francisco.
• Gave the Gift of Blogging to my brother Jack.

With a year like 2005, what's in store for 2006? In 2006 on Somewhat Frank, I plan to stay more focused on business and technology and how it affects life.

Somewhat Frank Bookmarks (12.02.05)

del.icio.us bookmarks for 12-02-2005 by Frank Gruber

Is Web 2.0 nothing more than mashups? : Geeking with Greg

Discusses the mashup craze of Web 2.0.

MoMB

The Museum of Modern Betas is a site I just stumbled upon a few days ago.

Emily Chang - eHub

A HUGE list of Web 2.0-ish offerings.

Feed Subscription Button Maker : Add To RSS Buttons

This is a great feed button maker application. Just be sure to save the button images locally so you are not relying on TwisterMC.com to serve you images. Thanks to Lee Odden for pointing it out to me. Apparently this feature will be moving to Lee's site soon.

On Start-ups : tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog

A great aggregation of tips and tricks of some of the recent successful start-up companies.

Mark Cuban On Splogs And BlogSpot

IceRocket's progress on eliminating splogs.

Google AdSense

Google Adsense case studies anyone?

Craigslist the King of Classifieds : Search Engine Journal

Craiglist may be king but apartments.com and cars.com the Classified Ventures initiatives are are close behind based on the September 2005 traffic numbers.

Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere? : Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School sounds off about corporate blogging.

Somewhat Frank del.icio.us Bookmarks (11.21.05)

del.icio.us bookmarks for 11-21-2005 by Somewhat Frank (a.k.a)  Frank Gruber

Journalists Who Won't Give Up : WashingtonPost.com

"Investigatory journalism" …  one of my favorite terms since it was used in a quote by Ben Stiller in the movie Zoolander.

The Playlist: Great Online Sources for Finding New Music

Some great places to discover new music.

Tis' the season for recruiting : Niall Kennedy's Blog

Niall has some interesting observations about employment and how the holiday season may cause some self-examination.

Study: Search Now No. 2 Among Web Tasks

Searching is now the second most used web task behind email.

Pubcon X Wrap Up : Online Marketing Blog

Webmaster World Pubcon 10 wrap up in case you were unable to make it out to Vegas.

API launches newspaper innovation initiative--spending $2MM on consultants' fees? : Susan Mernit's Blog

Will this whitepaper hold the secrets to the newspaper company's innovation strategy?

The answer to splog. : Websolvers Blog

This post gives a great overview on splog and mentions Splog Reporter. I appreciate the mention Rochelle and let me know if you have any specific questions.

The Google Maps API Gets Its Own Blog

The Google Map API is so popular that it is now getting it's own blog.

Instantly Hooked on Diggdot.us : TechCrunch

This new service combines Digg, Slashdot and Del.icio.us.

Somewhat Frank del.icio.us Bookmarks (11.16.05)

del.icio.us bookmarks for 11-16-2005 by Somewhat Frank (a.k.a)  Frank Gruber

Sports Lounge LLC launches the Sports Cartel Blog Network : The Blog Herald

Sports themed blog network launched.

Google's Classified Play Launches : Online News Squared

Ironically, this post mentions how Google's founder was puzzled by the Newspaper online classified ads a few years back and now Google has launched GoogleBase, its own classified ads project, of sorts. Additionally, I posted about GoogleBase on Somewhat Frank back in September and then again in late October in the post titled Google Base To Take On Craigslist, eBay, and Newspapers.

Amazon to sell individual book pages : Phil Bradley's Blog

One page at time...via Amazon.

Microsoft to remove Sony BMG malware

Microsoft is removing DRM from Sony CD's after a bug was found which opened PC's up to hackers!

Porn industry gears up for mobile phones, iPods

Wireless air waves are preparing to blast porn to phones, iPods, and other devices.

TiVo Netflix RSS Reader : tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog

This download allows Netflix users to view their account via the TiVo on your TV by putting it in RSS format.

State of the Blogosphere, Follow up : The RSS Blog

According this post, Mark Cuban has listed some things IceRocket is doing to combat Splog.

37 Signals, 1 Clear Message

One clear message = keep it simple!

"Spend less money, hire fewer people, work fewer hours, and -- most surprising of all -- offer fewer features."

PAL vs. NTSC

Excellent overview of PAL and NTSC formats if you are into video editing and need to figure out the best option for your project needs.

As Blogs and Citizen Journalism Grow,  Where's the News? : Poynter Online

An interesting article on blogs and citizen journalism.

Somewhat Frank del.icio.us Bookmarks (11.14.05)

del.icio.us bookmarks for 11-14-2005 by Somewhat Frank (a.k.a)  Frank Gruber

It's showtime for Trib's quiet CEO

More talk of Tribune taking action.

A Breakthrough Few Months for Portable TV

A good recap of the feats of television in the last few months. Geez, times are a changin'.

Blogpulse Top List Spammed

Sounds like Blogpulse could use the services of Splog Reporter to assist in cleaning up their directory of blogs.

Tagging By Bloggers, A Small Study : Napsterization

This is an interesting post on tagging by Mary Hodder.

Press Release for Syntagma Media Launch : SYNTAGMA

New blog network recent launched by John Evans.

AOL to Have Reruns on Demand

Old TV favorites on demand via AOL.

Crack Down On Prostitutes Using Website

Is Craigslist acting as an online pimp?

Attack of the Blogs : Forbes.com

This is a thorough overview on blogging and the influential powers of the blogosphere.

Washington Post Reports On Splog

The WashingtonPost.com published an article today about spam blogs or splogs. I found the article interesting especially this quote by Anne P. Mitchell, president and chief executive of the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy and a law professor at the Lincoln Law School of San Jose, explaining how Internet companies that helped create the blog phenomenon can also help keep it clean:

"From an ethical, moral, good Internet neighbor perspective . . . if they have the ability to do so, they should do so."

However, the article failed to dig deep enough to highlight the action of Splog Reporter recently highlighted by the Wall Street Journal and Wired News, among others.

If the raging splog battle is new to you, let me start by saying spam blogs or splogs are clogging up search engine search results much like spam emails have been clogging up your email inbox for years. Splog Reporter was created by me (Frank Gruber) and Jeff Johns in mid-August as the trash can for splog in the blogosphere. Basically, we have created a system for detecting splogs that are reported. We also offer the Splog Reporter as a service to help clean up our client’s data and detect splogs from regular blog URLs. For more information on splog, be sure to check out Splog Reporter and the definition of splog on Wikipedia.

For views from the blogosphere check out posts on TeleRead, By the Bayou and Turned Earth.

Splog Reporter Highlighted On Wired News

An article titled How to Fight Those Surging Splogs was written by Nicole Lee of Wired News and published online yesterday (October 27, 2005). I conducted the interview about a week ago and appreciate the mention of our splog efforts. I am also pleased to announce the creation of Freedom Jump, L.L.C. as the owner and operating limited liability corporation of Splog Reporter.

Splog Reporter is continuing to evolve and anticipate to see something new soon from Freedom Jump. Also please continue to send your feedback, we love to hear your perspectives as much as I like writing my candid perspective on Somewhat Frank so please keep sending us comments.

Splog Reporter Cited In WSJ Report

David Kesmodel wrote a very comprehensive article in the Wall Street Journal today in regard to the current splog problem in the blogosphere. It appeared in the print version on page B1 and on the WSJ online on the front right widget titled Blog Clog.

The article describes the splog problem and explains the roles of Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, IceRocket, Technorati, PubSub, Feedster, BlogBurner, and Splog Reporter.

David interviewed me a few weeks ago for the article which explains the Splog Reporter effort and brings to light the fact that Splog Reporter has anecdote for determining:

“...how "spammy" a blog is...”

So basically, Splog Reporter has the “special sauce” that can determine splogs from regular blogs.

UPDATE: Check out the blog of Troy Brumley for another perspective of the WSJ splog report.

Splog Causes IceRocket To Ban Blogspot

Splog, or spam blog, is at the forefront of the blogosphere again as indicated by the blog search engine IceRocket’s recent ban of Google Blogger accounts from its search index on Oct. 16. The issue has been mounting steadily, and Mark Cuban recently sounded off about Google’s free blog product, Blogger, on his blog post titled, “Get Your Blogspot Shit Together.”

I founded Splog Reporter a few months ago in an effort to help control the problem of splog clogging the blogosphere by taking the Web 2.0 approach of “empowering people” through providing “good willed” bloggers the opportunity to report URLs to Splog Reporter. Co-manager Jeff Johns and I developed a proprietary system behind Splog Reporter that determines splogs from regular blogs which marks them appropriately in our database.

It sounds like search engines are in need of help and the Splog Reporter system might be able to address this need.

For some other blogosphere perspectives check out RatcliffeBlog, BuzzMachine, Chris Pirillo, Tim Bray, The Modern Marketer, The J Spot, Strategize, and Bayosphere.