Comments on: Market Viraling, Part II

By: El Oso, El Moreno, and El Abogado » Blog Archive » WTF and FON

El Oso, El Moreno, and El Abogado » Blog Archive » WTF and FON — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:53:50 +0000

[...] than the for-profit and heavily patented company it is. I blogged about Varsavsky’s strategy here and two days later Rebecca Buckman wrote a similar article in the Wall Street Journal. Not [...]

By: Roberto Bobrow

Roberto Bobrow — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 01:31:50 +0000

Hey pal!, thank you for my birthday message (I’m healed now). Are you repoting to Global Voices too? Where should I look for you?
BTW, Martin Varsavsky is a honest man (I believe) with some a personal story to tell. His father was a higly respected phycicist with a public progressive high profil. Prosecuted by a military coup back in the sixties he went to teach in the States where Martin grew to play with real estate investing and became millionaire. He invested, then, in tech ventures and public welfare. In the late nineties he came back to Argentina to help building an educational digital net and lost a lot of money at the governmental bureaucrats hands. I think he deserves some success this time.

By: Doc Searls

Doc Searls — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 11:44:03 +0000

I don’t have a stake in Fon.

My disclosures on that stuff are here: http://doc.weblogs.com/whoIsDoc

By: Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 07:24:30 +0000

A small price to pay was it not?

Nathan, what you say is so true. Ethics in journalism is not something that many adhere to these days (CNN!), but it should be something we aspire to. If we don’t, as bloggers (or journalists) our words will become inditinguishable from all the other bullshit that’s out there. It’s not the free drink, it’s the write-up in exchange for that drink. Sure, there will be bias in the way we write, moreso in blogging, but we need to stay transparent if we expect to have any sort of credibility.

By: cad

cad — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 06:08:26 +0000

damn, if you were to get rid of marketing in your island, i’d be the bum! Not cool!

I know what you mean about advertising being everywhere. That’s mainly the reason why we are so immune to it and it’s harder to get someone to buy into a product. You have to try harder to get peoples attention now-a-day’s, hence the funny commercials or the outrages advertising prices out there.

But what a company wants is not to sell you a product. . . they want to “change” people’s minds. . .opinions. And it’s getting harder and harder to do.

It’s funny you mention this blogging advertising going on, because for years I have relied on customer reviews before purchasing any product. I’m addicted to cnet.com, beauty.com, amazon.com. . .only to name a few. . .only for the customer reviews. Even when a blogger adds a plugin for a product here and there, I do my research. It’s the customer reviews that matter, not people who test the product for cash. With so many marketing researching companies out there offering 70 dollars for an hour of your time, people who need the money will say anything! I’ve been one of those people. . .cuz a broke sista has gotta make in this world no matter what!!!!

But the issue with technology advancing at such a fast pace it’s only easier to purchase anything (if one has money).

There is some device or chip (I read this somewhere, I’ll let you know if I find the article) that is being created or has been created, that you can attach to you TV that will increase advertising. What it is designed to do is automatically tell you where you can buy something that you’ve seen on TV. So lets say you’re watching your favorite TV show and the lampshade sitting on the table looks appealing. With the click of a button it can inform you of the make, model, and where it can be purchased.

And that’s only the beginning. . . .

By: …My heart’s in Accra » FON, disclosure, ethics, controversy

…My heart’s in Accra » FON, disclosure, ethics, controversy — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 00:23:45 +0000

[...] My friend David “El Oso” Sasaki raises some issues about FON’s marketing strategy in a recent blog post. He’s concerned that the buzz FON’s recent announcement of investment has received in the blogosphere may amount to “a personalized press release for the company”. David mentions that Rebecca and I both disclosed our involvement with FON in our posts, but worries that others haven’t disclosed their involvement. [...]

By: logtar

logtar — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:18:54 +0000

I have been approached already as a blogger to test a product but not to become an evangelist just yet. I would be willing to do it if it was something that I believed on. I have also done product reviews for an online tech magazine before as well as write some editorials for them, but that was not solicited persay, it was more something I believed on. I admire the people that are doing blogging as their full time job, I would love to but right now I cannot do it. Who knows, some day.

By: oso

oso — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 04:48:50 +0000

OK, so I disclose: Jennifer bought me a couple drinks. But I had to put up with four hours of being lost in freezing-ass-cold Barcelona to get them.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 04:43:55 +0000

But Jennifer, if he accepted a free drink because the owner likes this blog, has Oso violated ethical blogging standards? Or would disclosing the free drink cleanse him from the wasteland of unethical journalists?

I think the word “ethical” isn’t really a question when it comes to commercial news. All media revolves around ratings, hits, visitors, numbers. Most journalists think they’re on the moral high ground but unknowingly include all kinds of personal bias in their stories. I think “ethical” journalism, or non-commercial journalism is rare. The idea that a story can be told in an unbiased (or even politically correct) way is a myth.

By: oso

oso — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 04:38:34 +0000

Well said. Whether bloggers are journalists, diarists, ranters, or whatever else, they are definitely part of the market. I'll pay your rent so long as HP doesn't have his way.