Blogola is a problem serious enough to draw the regulatory attention of the Obama administration.

 

But that hasn’t affected the efforts of marketers to grease bloggers (in this case through a third-party European company).

 

From Jalopnik (via MediaPost):

 

How Honda Pays Bloggers To Write About Their Cars

 

Lede:

 

The new Honda Civic is so boring you’d probably have to pay me to write something positive about it, which is exactly what Honda attempted to do via a third-party European company. Welcome back to the world of pay-for-post blogging where automakers desperately try to generate positive social media buzz — and fail.

I first received an email from Russell Thomas in January saying there was “a major car brand” that was willing to fork over cash to Jalopnik to write about their car. While my journalistic pride means I have no intention of actually accepting a check in a money-for-coverage scheme, my journalistic curiosity led me to write him back and and let him know I was interested.

I was informed by Thomas that all I’d have to do is sign up as a “publisher” on the website of eBuzzing, the company he works for, in order to access campaigns. I did, and, after filling out their form telling them my primary language and general traffic stats, I was “validated” and assigned my first story.

 

It just gets more interesting from there, so you should read the whole Jalopnik post.

 

Suffice it to say, blogola lives, despite any and all efforts to regulate it.

John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
John R. Carroll has 305 post(s) on Sneak Adtack