Sponsored Reviews-Ethical Blogging Income?

Lots of talk lately about the launch of Sponsored Reviews a recently launched competitor to Review Me which compensates bloggers for reviews of web sites, products, etc.

Ali J of Everybody Go To writes a terrific post of SponsoredReviews.com. In it, he details the features of the site, compares it to ReviewMe and even discusses what could be improved.

This type of “paid analysis” has been brought into question by many of the major blogs. The question-should bloggers be paid to write about their opinion? I guess it’s the age old, church and state argument between editorial and advertising.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it as long as the writer gives full disclosure (that the review is sponsored) and shares an honest opinion. In my view, an honest opinion should include both pros and cons of the site or product. However, some of these services require that the writer compose only positive posts, a practice with which I think many have a problem.

According to a recent post by John Chow he cleared over $2,000 in February alone from ReviewMe posts of submitted products and services…not too shabby. Coupled with his other web income, the site cleared $7,000 during the shortest month of the year.

So What?With bloggers making this type of full time income, it’s hard to argue with the results. However, I’m compelled to suggest that this should come with integrity. Although, many bloggers wouldn’t consider themselve journalists and thus, would probably exempt themselves from concerns about getting paid for writing posts, it seems incumbent upon them to disclose that their being paid for posting about a company and provide an honest and balanced assessment.

Whether or not others agree is a different story. What do you think?

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to my free RSS feed!

Share This