Microsoft has never been known for its particularly interesting advertising model. Except of course when it makes for juicy gossip. As it turns out, Microsoft may have co-opted Federated Media and its stable of bloggers to start a meme.

Federated Media

Federated Media is the grand daddy of internet advertising brokers. They are the network that handle advertising for sites like Digg and ReadWriteWeb. They also have their fingers on the financial pulse of every blogger worth his self titled Conference.

How To Be People Ready

When Microsoft came to them with a new catch phrase, they were more than happy to ask their network of tech bloggers to sign on as spokesman — many did, for a price.

Now lets be practical, this is not the first or last time that a writer will be paid in order to write a story for an advertising sponsor. I dare say if Federated Media came to me and asked for a similar nod, I would strongly consider it. However, I will say that for bloggers who have come out against other sponsored posting schemes (like Mike Arrington of TechCrunch has), it does raise a few alarms.

I think Nick Denton put it best, it’s not so much wrong for them to accept Federated Media’s deal as it is, “disappointing”. Opinion leaders owe it to their reader base to disclose their prejudices. In this Web 2.0 culture we expect that of our citizen journalists. Leave it to your readers to decide whether a particular sponsorship deal has gone too far, it’s far better to be up front than to let something like this find its way into the wild.

Web 2.0 Roundup

Here is the beginning of what will probably be a day long conversation about the “People Ready” campaign, I believe I am going to sound off in another post but feel free to catch up.

“The day I started my blog Read/WriteWeb was when I became People Ready…”

–Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb)

“…The discussion in the comments to each blog post was as or more compelling than the actual news we were reporting. People’s opinions matter, and intelligent debate stimulates the mind. TechCrunch became People Ready.”

–Mike Arrington (TechCrunch)

A few more…

• John Battelle (Battelle Media)
• Mike Davidson (News Vine)
• Fred Wilson (A VC)

Update

I felt it only fair to give the authors I have written about a fair opportunity to say their piece, as I find their replies I will post them here.

Om Malik (GigaOM)

I have requested Federated Media, our sales partners, suspend the campaign on our network of sites, and they have. We are turning off any such campaigns that might be running on our network. Would I participate in a similar campaign again? Nothing is worth gambling the readers’ trust. Conversational marketing is a developing format, and clearly the rules are not fully defined. If the readers feel a line was crossed, I’ll will defer to their better judgement.

Neil Chase (Federated Media)

[Nick Denton] says that Microsoft paid them to write, which is simply not true. They were invited to join a conversation with readers about Microsoft’s new theme, and they did so, but they didn’t write about it on their blogs. The only money they get from Microsoft is from ads running on their sites, for which they’re paid by the page view.

Richard McManus (ReadWriteWeb)

As for me – not a Valley insider worthy of gossip, but nevertheless one of the ‘star writers’ in question – I think it’s a storm in a teacup. And I’m disappointed the ads have been pulled!

Paul Pedrosky (paul.pedrosky)

I could blame someone else, or point out how implausible the nonsense is, but I’ll say this instead: Sure, this blog thing is a one-man show, and, sure, the people at Federated Media who rep my ad space are well-meaning folks, but I still should have taken more time and said “No” to an ad whose style could so easily be misconstrued. My mistake, but the ad and associated campaign are now gone.

Mike Arrington (TechCrunch)

And perhaps Malik, Wilson and Kedrosky, who’ve all complimented and often linked to valleywag and have never been on the receiving end of their attacks before today, will realize how quickly that dog will turn on you. Valleyway picks its fights carefully, always attacking competitors but one at a time, while praising the rest of the crowd to keep them at bay.

Fred Wilson (A VC)

Bottom line is that I am all for any form of advertising that takes some risks, makes the medium a bit more interactive, extends the conversation.

Blogging doesn’t play by traditional media rules. That’s why it’s great. Blog advertising shouldn’t play by traditional media rules either. I am proud to be a participant in this campaign and think it makes me even more credible.

[P.S. this is also the short list of blogs that I have nothing but respect for, all I ask is for a wee bit more transparency. Have a tip like this? Be sure to submit it.]

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