Boredworkers.com

Come Monday, PayPerPost will require full disclosure on all of its client sponsored blog articles that are published by their network of blog publishers. As disclosed by TechCrunch, the policy change may be due to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s moves to regulate the market.

The PPP model has been under heavy scrutiny and fire ever since its launch with people on both sides of the fence. After months of enduring (and very likely enjoying) the controversial publicity, has PPP finally caved under the pressure? Only Ted Murphy and the people at PPP know the answer to this one. Perhaps they’ll have a episode of RockStartup documenting this latest development.

On the flipside, the change in policy may or may not affect their publishers. Some have always disclosed the sponsored nature of their posts (whether surreptitiously by categorising posts as sponsored like myself, or boldly stating as much in their articles), while others have comouflaged the monetisation of their site. The latter group may find the transition a little awkward. For me, I’m indifferent.

As for their advertisers. Well, I’ve noticed several opportunities that require the post to be annonymous. This minority group are the only ones that will really be affected. The disclosure policy will probably deter them from putting up new requests in PPP’s boards. Overall, the move will be likely to draw more publishers than it will turn away.

I’ve always thought that honesty is the best policy. There’s no reason to hide something if it’s an honest proposition and there isn’t any hanky panky going on behind the scenes. I wonder what’s next in line. Perhaps PPP will remove the ability for publishers to dictate the tone of the post.

Presently, publishers can choose for the tone of the post to be positive (+) or neutral (+/-). I’ve never seen an opportunity with a negative tone (-) requirement before but that might be an option as well. If this is ever removed, then Michael Arrington of TechCrunch will be a very happy camper. I’m of the same opinion as Mike on this one. I don’t particularly enjoy people forcing my opinion.

For the record, this post is sponsored by PayPerPost. I suppose they would like to get the word out as quickly as possible about their new disclosure policy. Whether or not this will silence their critics, only time will tell.