Paul Matsonpauljmatson@gmail.com
No one likes a liar. However, no matter how many times the media cries "wolf," the American public cannot help but come crawling back to mainstream news sources. That is, until the Internet allowed blogs to appear and begin stealing to limelight.
More than 60 million Americans, or 30 percent of all American Internet users, visited a blog in the first quarter of 2008. This is according to a new report from Comscore and sponsored in part by SixApart and Gawker Media. These numbers have placed considerable pressure upon mainstream media to compete with citizen journalists and has opened a new debate on the accuracy and credibility of information provided online.
With tens of millions of people reading blogs covering virtually every conceivable topic and industry, it did not take long for advertisers and entrepreneurs to notice. To capitalize on such exposure, many companies have begun to sponsor select bloggers that they believe will positively appeal to their target demographic(s).
Like any new promotional tactic, sponsored blogging has had it's share of faux pas and mishaps. Most notable is the Walmart blog controversy where a couple was found to have been paid to travel across America promoting Walmart and the stores' hospitality. The scheme ultimately backfired sending the company into a PR tailspin. This, of course, raises the question of who audiences should trust when reading independently managed media sources.
One must be careful not to forget that blogs are no different than print propaganda distributed by special interest groups and political candidates. This practice has been going on for centuries. Regardless of the venue utilized, the information is only as credible as its source and must be ruthlessly cross-referenced. The same goes for mainstream media. While it is unrealistic to say that web users will catch on to phony information 100% of the time, a credible web site ProBlogger offers the following advice (original article found here).
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