Do you know why you trust your friends’ recommendations?
Because they have nothing to win.
The moment personal interests come into play, word of mouth is ruined (which is why “sponsored” spread won’t scale).
That’s when we all become skeptical.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This is SO very true. I would take a recommendation or referral from someone 1,000 over a response to an ad or “sponsored” publicity item. It means more.
(Wow, that may be my shortest comment ever on your site…you model is rubbing off on me I think!)
True evangelism doesn’t need to be sponsored. It needs to be won through hard work.
Amen brother.
Sponsored tweets, blog posts, etc. will work because I know that to keep your attention, I can only share things that are actually valuable to you. If I can get paid for that, all the better. If I’m getting paid, and no one is paying attention, I will stop getting paid. It’s all about value, sponsored or not. This is already playing out in the mom blogosphere ten times over. And while there is great controversy, you only have to look at the popular bloggers – there’s an equal mix of sponsored and not.
Do you believe that value is always above personal interest when it comes to “sharing”? If you look at Twitter RTs, you can see that many times people recommend and share because they owe it to someone or they want to get noticed, not because the true value of the element.
Just because someone popular recommends something to me does not mean I won’t question his reasons. If money is in the game, I will question your motives. I may end up believing you, but I’ll question it first.
I never question my friends, because there’s nothing in it for them.
Interesting debate. I’d say I tend to agree but here’s the loophole:
What about all the content you see, the suggestions you get, that you don’t know are sponsored? Devil’s advocate here, but I’d rather just know when you’re getting paid to talk about someone or something.
We look at celebrity advertising all the time, and it’s fine to buy Wheaties still. So why not buy the kind of toothbrush my friend reccomends – and while I’m at it, help that friend make a buck or two?
I agree with Rebecca that matters is understanding your personal audience and what would appeal to them. Otherwise, you become a part of the spam-advertising problem, and people will just filter you out and lose interest, as you say.
No easy answers here. We’ll have to see how it happens to roll out1
The main problem I see here: we are assuming that everyone will understand their audience.
The same happens with business. Many lousy business think they “get us”. They believe they are doing something great. And they end up being spammers anyway. This is what I think it will happen. you’re turning thousands of “friends” into businesses.
Yes, I think we will become masters of filtering and lose interest.
Last thought: just because I don’t like the promotion of a product, does not mean I can’t like the product. Every car commercial is ridiculous, but people need cars anyway, just like you may need Wheaties.
re: “The moment personal interests come into play…”
Everyone has personal interests. You are kidding yourself if you don’t believe so. Whether those interests are paid or self-promotional, it’s all the same. At the end of the day, you still want something from me, no matter how sincere you are in also wanting to get to know me as a person.
I don’t care about sponsorship that much. People have to make money somehow, and I don’t fault them for trying to use influence they’ve built (yes, worked for) to make a living. Everyone has a job. I’m not that impressed with the Mommy blogging phenomenon. They get a bad rap for a reason, and I think some are blogging for the free swag, mostly. Those bloggers aren’t so successful, because when you’re building influence it helps to blog for the “good karma” reasons, like helping others, expressing ideas, and joining the conversation.
But that’s the beauty of the system. If I cross the line, stop following me.
Am I trying to make money from my blog in some form though? Hell yeah.
I agree with you Monica. We all want something. That’s why I think the word “friend” has been mutilated. that’s why I think word of mouth AS WE KNOW IT, is doomed.
Very important clarification: Online follows very different rules than offline.
99% of my offline friends’ recommendations have no gain for them at all. The exact opposite happens online.
Hey, I don’t fault anyone for trying, I too would like to make money from my blog. But not in expense of people’s time and attention. That’s sacred to me.
There’s already too much noise, to add possible profit. Greed is real.
In the end, it’s all about respect.