Editorial Integrity for Sale, Priced to Move

I'm being paid $125 to write this review of ReviewMe, a site that brokers deals between advertisers and bloggers who will review a product or service for a fee. The person who came up with this idea, who calls himself ReviewMe Roy, explains:

I wake up every day and the first thought in my head is, "how can I provide both valuable feedback and buzz to advertisers in the blogosphere, simultaneously allowing bloggers to increase their revenue while mainting their editorial integrity and true voice?"

I wake up every day and the first thought in my head is, "I need to pee." ReviewMe Roy scares me a little, like those people in McDonald's commercials who've made the "Dollar Menu" their reason for living.

The fee you earn for ReviewMe reviews depends on how highly your weblog is esteemed by Alexa and Technorati and how many people subscribe to your RSS feed. Workbench gets a sweet rate, but only if some company finds it on ReviewMe and puts my editorial integrity in their shopping cart. (One bug: Individual Blogspot blogs are given the entire blog hosting service's Alexa ranking.)

I'll stick with ReviewMe a little while to see whether any company thinks my true voice is worth a one-day rental, but I don't see how bloggers can mix in paid product placements without costing the respect of their audience. The only way to retain the perception of editorial integrity is to criticize the product you've been paid to review, as I'm doing here, but that strategy falls apart the minute you like something.

2006/11/16 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

I can see why this is controversial; I don't actually want to visit someone's blog and read what they think of a product, I go there to hear someone's private thoughts made public.

I'm not keen on hearing what Rogers Cadenhead thinks of Campbell's tomato soup. However, Arby's Double Dippin Tenders was amusing and a fun read. Could you have written that post for a site like Review Me?

I suppose if they paid you enough...

#1 · Melinda Casino · 2006/11/17

Well, capitalism is now everywhere.
Go for it!

Regards,
Ames Tiedeman

#2 · Ames Tiedeman · 2006/11/18

I wake up everyday and the first thought in my head is,"How come I'm not Brad Pitt?"

What Review Me Roy said sounds like something a contemporary P.T. Barnum would say. The quote by itself is standard-issue Madison Avenue advert-babble, harmless in itself, but that "I wake up everyday and the first thought in my head..." presages something more insidious.

Check to see if he's a Scientologist or a member of the Reverend Moon's Unification Church.

#3 · Old Possum · 2006/11/18

@Old Possum:

Who care if you are not Brad Pitt!

You are you !

Make it happen!

How are the Moonies doing these days?

#4 · Ames Tiedeman · 2006/11/19

Arby's doesn't have to bribe me to review Buffalo Double Dippin' Tenders. They just have to explain why they've wrongfully denied their artery-hardening goodness to the world.

#5 · Rogers Cadenhead · 2006/11/21