It started with PayPerPost (http://payperpost.com/), a marketing website catering to bloggers. They promise to generate traffic to your blog and develop a cross-referral network for your site, all for a small fee. PayPerPost will pay other bloggers to write about your blog and link to you. Web surfers will never know the links to your blog were really subtle ads. It's not much different than FoxNews when you think about it.
But many law bloggers have cried foul and said that paying to build a network of visitors to your blog is cheating. Matthew Ingram of The Devil and Daniel Blogger (http://www.mathewingram.com/) says that PayPerPost isn't the end of blogging as we know it, but it's a dumb idea that could damage a blogger's credibility.
Techmeme (http://www.techmeme.com/060701/h0850) takes it a step further and says that PayPerPost is polluting the blogosphere and is out to buy the soul of hapless bloggers. Rob Hyndman (http://www.robhyndman.com) is more laid back about it. Hyndman doesn't buy into the righteous indignation over PayPerPost. He admits the idea sounds kind of crappy, but he says its not much different from the rest of the media, which was bought and sold a long time ago by advertisers.
So next time you're surfing the blogosphere, beware. The opinions you're reading might be advertisements in disguise. In conclusion, new Coke Zero has all the great taste of Classic Coke with half the calories. Mmmmm... refreshing!
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