Bloggers “bought off” by Fon? Not me…

February 9, 2006 By

Um, I see an article in the Wall Street Journal about some bloggers who are getting compensated by Fon for being part of their board of directors or advisors or stuff like that. Their “hype” of Von is being called into question.

For the record, if I receive compensation (or free stuff) from a company other than Microsoft I will disclose that. I’ve been offered a lot of board seats and stuff lately and I’ve turned them down. Why? Cause I work for Microsoft. Getting approval to do those kinds of things just takes too much work and, anyway, it complicates my life too much at the moment and it’s hard enough to keep track of the bias that being a Microsoft employee places on me.

Anyway, I have not gotten any compensation by Fon. In fact, it is funded by competitors of Microsoft. So, when I say it’s an interesting idea and one that I wish we had funded too, you can see I’m being straight up.

That said, bloggers, we need to disclose our conflicts of interest up front (and I would put a disclaimer on everything you write about such a company). Next week I’ll be skiing for free at a Colorado Resort, for instance. I will disclose that and will remind you of my conflict if I write anything about that resort (Steve Broback of Blog Business Summit arranged a trip for several bloggers to try out the resort’s amenities).

More commentary on this issue is linked to on Memeorandum.

Filed Under: Blog Tips
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  • This may be old news, but I posted an analysis on Fon's current status, which was attacked by Martin Varsavsky on his spanish blog. I believe I must have struck a fiber somewhere, because between the hype of almost 100k users, and having sold thousands of routers, and expanding in 140 countries, and my study, there is a huge gap.
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  • I just posted this comment on clogger re their article on the same topic. Comment applies here too.

    Transparency is everything and as a blogger if I were to get paid by a company to blog for them as long as I am upfront about the relationship on the blog and anywhere else I refer to the blog (as much as possible) then that is ok I reckon.

    Also would not blog for anyone without maintaining editorial independence and without disclosing the relationship. Money is great but my blogging credibility is worth much more to me if I am honest.

    I have received a free sample in the past and blogged about it honestly without mentioning it is free but if it was crap I would say so or not even blog about it at all.

    Would never say something I did not believe in a blog post whether I was being paid or not. Of course my opinion might change over time though.

    Namaste

    Al
  • Christopher: I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree about the ethical implications of opportunities given to prominent bloggers.

    But I find it disingenuous when you imply that Scoble is undeserving of his success. Yes, he happened to be in the right place at the right time - but all successful people have been lucky in one regard or another.

    Opportunities aren't earned, they're discovered. Success is earned when someone has the guts, will and vision to take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves. Scoble has done that.
  • Christopher has something even more powerful than a blog: an email list of hundreds of journalists. Does he get paid to email that list? I don't know. The whole thing is done out of public eye.

    By the way, Chris, replace the word "blogger" with "journalist" and your rant here would be just as true.
  • A mi también me pareció al menos exagerada la bola que le dan a FON. En el fondo no tiene nada nuevo.

    I also think the hype about in FON is a bit too much. There's nothing new in their idea. It reminds mee too much of another MV funded "social" site, www.educ.ar, created during the net bubble.
    Make your own FON project in an hour: Buy Linksys WRT, install OpenWRT + Chillispot, install a Radius server. Get millions from VCs ;-)
  • Christopher Coulter
    Well, I don't blog. And I define "opportunities" in a differing way, and such are many, but from the old fashioned way, I earn them, not just given. And I take no offense to that. It's not a most-toys-before-dies game, not for me.

    Obviously, your point is that I am missing out on a whole of untold world of freeie payola train-rides. Not my motivation, number one, and, secondly, envy is one of the seven deadly sins.
  • hugh macleod
    What is your point, Chris? That Scoble gets lots of opportunities because of his blogging? We already know that.

    But what about you?

    http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archive...
  • Christopher Coulter
    And hey Teresa...

    I’m not getting a dime from Edgeio. Well, they did sponsor my launch party. So, guess I should have disclosed that. - Robert Scoble

    Interesting loophole, eh? Not direct, but indirect.
  • Christopher Coulter
    they’re offered and received in a more ethical way.

    Hahhaha. Sad thing is I think you actually truly believe that. Scores of bloggers out there shrilling for things they don't mention they are shrilling for, and blackmail dissing those don't bite on the freebie gameplan -- you want me to dig up the news reports? Celebrities, journalists (mainly in travel journalism), bloggers and politicians all have the hands out, where you get into deep water is not your "notification" or "disclosure" rather more quid pro quo. Disclosure is oft times an excuse just to talk about said item. You can donate to a political candidates fund, but the second you have an direct-implied relationship, it becomes bribery. Really, you should already know this. Blogging gets more in trouble, as the lines or "rules" and aren't really set, and vary from blogger to blogger; having no central authority, over Political ventures or Celebrity fluff. Scoble is a bit more ethical than most, as his employer demands it. But always ways around that, and since he's above the law, and bascially unfireable, he can get away with almost anything.

    But Scoble raving about things on his blog, in the wide sense, is a coin-flip 50-50 shot, the fanboys will worship anything he says, the other half knows he's just a paid-off talking-walking marketing goon who really hasn't done anything except "blog and become famous", not even writing his own book, getting a ghostwriter for a cut of the moola. Consumer Reports these guys are not, hence a product could very well risk reputational contamination or it could trigger a hit, if you factor in the narrowcasted audience. All depends.
  • Don
    I agree. People should always play it straight. I know I try to always.
  • "I'm not a journalist, nor do I play on one TV." Nearly a year ago, I said that with Robert on a panel at SXSW when paid bloggers came up. Same goes now. When we arrive in Colorado for Bloggy Mountain High and are evangelism event, we're there to evangelize and bloggers are like friends with benefits. Right, so, we're going to go have a good time, blog about it, and it's obvious what we're doing. No one is getting paid to blog while there.
  • Photo Steve: LOL! We tease Steve about the Broback/Brokeback thing all the time. And for the record, it's not "Broback's Mountain" it's Bloggy Mountain High.

    Christopher Coulter: Prominent bloggers are an odd combination of celebrity and journalist in that regard. Fashion designers, electronics manufacturers, even car companies routinely give celebrities like Cameron Diaz or Tom Cruise tons of expensive goodies for free in the hopes that they'll be photographed using it.

    Not only are the goodies Scoble gets just for being Scoble no different from the goodies that Katie Holmes gets for being Katie Holmes, they're offered and received in a more ethical way.

    Scoble goes out of his way to mention that he is being offered these products and services because the people doing the offering fully hope that he'll rave about them on his blog. It's not as if every starlet who was ever given a Birkin bag walks around with a disclaimer pasted over the Hermés logo.

    That's why Scoble still has a "lovable teddy-bear nice-guy dork" reputation.
  • Meaw
    What I find interesting is that FON seems to have more "advisors" than employees. Is that common? Do they really need tha *much* advice?
  • Robert, it will be awesome if the bloggers add the disclaimer clearly. However, I don't believe this is happening and if there is a way to ensure this. It really depends on the ethics of the blogger as Rebecca has pointed out.

    I just posted about this on my blog: http://www.webvapors.com/
  • Goebbels: other companies have offered me board of directors' positions. I've turned them down so far.
  • I'm one of the members of the US Board of Advisors of Fon. As the article confirms, each one of us DID disclose that we are on the board of advisors. There was absolutely no attempt to hide our relationship with Fon. Quite the contrary.

    I just posted about this if you want to dive into the nitty-gritty of it: http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/wsj_o...
  • Goebbels
    What's up with the "board of directors or advisors or stuff like that"? Trying to make it sound controversial for some hype? It is NOT the Board of Directors. It IS an Advisory Board. Pretty straight forward when it says "members of FON's U.S. advisory board."
  • Christopher Coulter
    You just get speaking engagements at exotic European locations, Ski resorts, WiFi-fueled airplane trips and "Blogger cruises" and all sorts of other Hugh-like perks...Wifi hot tubs, exotic paid-for Dinners, free products, Microsoft expense accounts to pay for dinners, jazzed meetings with VIPs, Book Publisher Jet Set gigs and on and on. You just missed out on the Fon freebies meme, as you were jet-setty, and now that it's getting bad press, using it as a moral crusade. But come on, had they come to you first, it would show the power of 'naked conversations' and how companies are now 'getting it'.

    Man, how you get away with rampant hypocrisy and rule breaking that would doom all mere mortals and yet still come off as the lovable teddy-bear nice-guy dork, is a marketing case study unto itself.
  • Weird, I missed that blogger ski invite in my Gmail box. Have fun at Broback's mountain (sorry, couldn't resist).
  • Joi always does that when he blogs about something he is involved with, I have always liked that kind of honesty.
  • Michiel, sorry, I hadn't had my coffee yet. Thanks for correcting me.
  • Good suggestion. Keeps the blogger above reproach. Perhaps it's a stretch comparison but financial analysts do the same thing, so there's precedent.
  • Um, it's Fon.
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