Valleywag
The Wall Street Journal tries to build a scandal from a few blog posts. Some Fon advisors wrote good things about the company, all of them mentioning their advisory roles. Where the hell is the scandal?
Here's the Register of Interests:
| Name | Site | In bed with | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Weinberger | Joho the Blog | Fon | He's all about his involvement. The Cluetrain guy wouldn't cheat readers. |
| Wendy Seltzer | Legal Tags | Fon | Fon was on her disclosure page before the WSJ piece. In yesterday's Google cache, the page included mention of payment. |
| Dan Gillmor | Bayosphere | Fon | Says he's an advisor, says he might get money for the job, and discloses Wendy's involvement too. |
| Dave Winer | Scripting.com | Edgeio | Dave giddily discloses his position — Edgeio is his special friend! |
| Doc Searls | Doc Searls Weblog | Jabber, Ping, Socialtext, Spikesource, Technorati | During the fallout, Doc put disclosures in his bio to be more transparent. And his transparency wasn't even being questioned. |
| Robert Scoble | Scobleizer | Microsoft | Robert discloses a ski trip. His Microsoft position is half his claim to fame now — they fully employ him. |
Feels like the WSJ is just sniping at bloggers. Rather embarrassing to see them stretch this far. Is there a grudge they're not disclosing?
Incidentally, let's flesh this register out. Which other bloggers are tied to outside interests? Comment or e-mail.
Comments
Yeah, I thought the same when reading the article. "So, they're telling their readers they're involved in that company, and then they blog about it... so... wait, what was the scoop here?"
The real story is that blogging's A-list (A for advisor!) is in denial that they're being solicited and compensated for their position as opinion leaders, not for their domain expertise.
Disclosure won't save their credibility with readers any more than it would Walt Mossberg. The WSJ headline should have read "Bloggers Boast About Selling Their 'Whuffie'"
Or maybe we're witnessing a cultural change like the one from hippie rock stars to rappers. What used to be called a sellout (think Nike Revolution ad or MC Hammer and Pepsi) is now something to brag about. I predict FONs will become the next blogger status symbol, and tech companies will get the message. Instead of praying that Mossberg likes your new product, you'll just hire a few Daves onto your board and fly Gizmodo out to cover the launch.
The news is that last week, when FON used the founder's blog to announce a deal with Speakeasy that didn't exist, they had the Cluetrain Blogger on board as an advisor.
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