I've been really on the fence about writing this post for a while. It's about what used to be one of my favorite blogs. I really like the people who work there, but I think they've made some really terrible choices in the last six months.
Maybe it's because I've been listening to too much of The VSS. My tolerance for bullshit has gotten so, so low.
There will be no links in this post except for the one above. In the interest of not hurting too many writers or editors feelings, I'm not even going to name names.I'm just going to describe the situation.
There's this very popular web news blog that I've been reading for about 18 months now, and when it began, it was a really useful compendium of all that was new on the web.
Lately, I've seen 20+% of its content devolving into non-objective pay-to-play crap. We're talking about sponsored LONG series of articles and tons of bylined guest articles by consultants providing pablum advice on the social web. I mean, how many freakin' articles about the evolution of Twitter do we need to read?! It's a really great platform if you'd like to reach the 2 Million people on Twitter, you know?
I can hardly recommend the site to my clients to read anymore, and it's making me sick. I've heard people referring to this site as the "MTV of Web 2.0" The Price Is Right is more like it.
Over a period of the last 48 hours, I've gone through this site's content, and I examined the 27 articles they've published since Monday. 5 out of the 27 are sponsored content, either underwritten by a large software brand sponsor, or written by the very people whose companies or clients are profiled in the articles.
At some point, you've gotta ask yourself: is a site that publishes about 80% news (and 20% advertorial content) even worth reading?
Seriously, even though you know that most articles in web news publications are pitched by PR firms or placed in exchange for back-room favors ("Sure, we can get you onto our conference..."), it's blowing my mind that nearly 1 in 5 articles on this site is out-and-out written by the brands profiled in the stories.
Before we get to the pot-calling-the-kettle comments, let me be clear that I blog for five reasons:
- I blog to find clients that are interested in working with me, because they like what I write about.
- I blog to wrestle with ideas and clarify my thoughts.
- I blog to prevent entities who dispense the crap that they call their "work product" from becoming the accepted norms, in terms of brand strategy.
- I blog so prospective clients who dislike Rush or hardcore punk will not come anywhere near me.
- I blog for constant self-improvement.
If this publication can't at least step up to the plate on number five, I'm done - as a reader, and as a reccomender.
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