If you read TechCrunch, you may have noticed a post this weekend about Blueprint Cleanse, a health product designed to cleanse your body. On the surface, the piece seemed to be a  “California” lifestyle piece, however, after doing a bit of research it turns out there’s a lot more intrigue, questionable journalistic ethics, and deception involved here.

This post is a bit long, but I promise if you stick all the way through till the end, I’m going to prove that Sarah Lacy lied about having paid for the cleanse product she blogged about about AND that TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington was romantically involved with a woman whose younger sister worked at the same cleanse product company.

In a July 25th post on TechCrunch, Sarah Lacy goes on and on about the values of “cleansing” and how she is getting various people around the TechCrunch office to try the product. At the bottom of the post you’ll see this disclaimer:

Disclosure: The company is sending out free samples of the product to press in California, including us, this week. I and others at TechCrunch have paid full price for this product in the past.

Issue 1: While the post may have a human readable disclosure, there is definitely a straight link which passes page rank, and is in violation of Google’s guidelines on sponsored posts (see bottom of the post for more on this).

Issue 2: The disclosure that she has paid for the product in the past is a lie …

For the real story, we’re going to have to go back to a March 16th post on Sarah Lacy’s blog called spring cleaning. In that post, she mentions she has three objections to the same product, the third being the one we’re concerned with:

Third: It’s $85 a day for people outside of New York! We’re in a depression if you hadn’t noticed. I had to take another job just to justify buying a Kindle.

However, further down the post she  addresses that concern saying the company gave it to her for free:

Three: They comped my first cleanse.

This statement is a direct contradiction of her disclaimer on TechCrunch where she stated she paid for the product. Now, of course, it is entirely possible that the first one was comped and she bought another batch in the middle. However, Sarah takes that possibility out of the equation in her TechCrunch post:

I know what you’re thinking, because I used to think the same thing. I am a meat-loving Southern girl. Add in being a writer, and that means I drink more than I should too. I am the last person who ever thought she’d be doing a juice cleanse. I tried Blueprint out of pure desperation. A bout with pneumonia last year meant anytime I traveled or pulled an all-nighter I got sick. That’s obviously untenable given I’m writing a book about emerging markets and on a 10-plus hour flight every month. After just one three-day cleanse I felt healthier than I had in two years.  Four months later, I haven’t so much as had the sniffles.

Again she’s admitting (emphasis mine) that she had one prior cleansing four months ago, which matches with the March date of her first post. So which is it, Sarah? Were you lying in your first post that you got it for free, or were you lying in your second post where you said you paid for it?

Should you think I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill, this isn’t the first time Sarah has been hypocritical in her journalistic ethics. On May 6, Sarah wrote a post titled News Flash: Paying for Coverage Is Still “Taboo” where she said:

There is no time during my life on planet earth or beyond that I will *ever* consider accepting payment for coverage. There is no circumstance or situation where I will respect a journalist who does, especially if the details of that conflict aren’t clearly disclosed. P.E.R.I.O.D.

Now, guess who went on an all expense paid trip to London with a bunch of bloggers in exchange for “coverage” on TechCrunch … Sarah Lacy. So, again, which is it, Sarah? Is paying for coverage wrong, but accepting free travel worth thousands of dollars OK? Or is it only wrong when everyone except you and your A-list blogging buddies like Robert Scoble do it? If you’re looking to get a link …  post … umm… coverage from Sarah Lacy or TechCrunch, with prices starting as low as $85 (the cost of cleanse), that’s likely to be cheapest and most effective link you’ll ever buy.

To bring this full circle, and connect all the dots, one of the other bloggers on this free “sponsored coverage” London trip was Megan Asha (friend of blogging socialite Julia Allison). Megan has a younger sister who … (wait for it) … works at the exact same cleanse company that Sarah wrote the “sponsored post” for on TechCrunch. The icing on the cake here is, Megan  (who’s sister works for the cleanse company) is, according to Valleywag, the on-and-off girlfriend of Michael Arrington. If this entire thing isn’t a textbook definition of “conflict of interest” I don’t know what is. If you don’t think any of this is a problem, let me rewrite the TechCrunch disclaimer to more accurately reflect the facts:

Disclosure: The company is sending out free samples of the product to press in California, including us, this week. I got mine for free three months ago but I’m totally going to lie to you and tell you that I paid for it. Additionally our founder Michael Arrington was romantically involved with a woman whose sister now works at this company. But really, this is all on the up, and up … honest guys …

In the past, sponsored posts were only done by “off the radar” bloggers for $25 or less a post. However, they’ve now grown up and matured. Today these types of backroom dealings are being done by PR agencies, in flagrant violation of  Google guidelines, and without regard for journalistic ethics or integrity. It seems Google only likes to dole out penalties on the unknown bloggers, while A-listers remain untouchable.

While these types of arrangements may be very common in the print and magazine world, online they are a bit more problematic. For most anyone other than TechCrunch or the Internet elite, sponsored posts are 100 percent against Google’s guidelines and can result in a Web site being penalized, banned or even removed from Google entirely. Here’s a quote from Matt Cutt’s, the head of Google’s webspam team on sponsored posts:

Clear disclosure of sponsorship is critical, and that includes disclosure for search engines. If link in a paid post would affect search engines, that link should not pass PageRank (e.g. by using the nofollow attribute). Google — and other search engines — do take action which can include demoting sites that sell links that pass PageRank, for example.

Two things need to change:

• Bloggers you need to decide to you want to be journalists or bloggers? Journalists are held to a higher standard of ethics, which they are required to follow all the time. They don’t make an exception if it helps bolster their career, if someone is giving them something really cool, or even if it’s a gift they really want. They also don’t have a selective memory when it comes to disclosure.
• Google needs to be consistent in it’s sponsored posts penalties and reactions. I understand that dropping the hammer on Sarah Lacy, TechCrunch, or Scoble  is going to get you some negative press, but the rules are the rules, and if you don’t enforce them equally, you look like you are profiling or playing favorites. For Sarah Lacy to claim she had no idea about sponsored posts, when she wrote an article about pay per post penalties, is laughable.

PS: should any of the posts in question go missing or you not see the text, here are screen caps of the originals, yeah I’ve done this before and know how these things go down.

image credit: (cc) Shashi Bellamkonda www.shashi.name and www.solutionsarepower.com.

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Is Sarah Lacy Making Sponsored Posts on TechCrunch?

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So if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been the past week, I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a new website ViralConversations.com. The idea behind Viral Conversations is putting business owners who have a product or service, in touch with bloggers who are interested in reviewing it. The difference between this website and other website review services is Viral Conversations only deals with real world tangible products.

Hopefully most of the questions you have will be answered in the FAQ, but I’ll answer a few here as well:

• This is not a paid linking service, bloggers who write reviews are NOT required to link to merchant websites.
• Agencies can use the service for their clients.
• You don’t have to be the sole manufacturer of a product

We’ve tried to answer almost everything in the FAQ, but we’ll add to it as needed.

Ideally we like to see this service used for a wide variety of products and services. We’d love to see the service being used to provide reviews like Dave Taylor did for Cirque du Soleil The Beatles LOVE. We’d love to see car dealers invite bloggers over to test drive a new car, invite bloggers to spend the night at a bed and breakfast, or see bloggers give reviews of fashion items like handbags.

To make sure we are dealing only with reputable merchants, we are reviewing everyone before they are allowed to use the system. There is a non refundable review fee of $75, but we have lowered it to $49 for the site launch. The base price for a self serve campaign is normally $249, but we’ve made it free through December, it’s all in the FAQ.

Bloggers who are interested in doing reviews and possibly getting free products, can subscribe via RSS or email and be notified when new offers become available. To kick things off we’ve got some review copies of Guy Kawasaki’s new book, Reality Check we are giving away. If you’d like to be considered head on over to the offer for more info. We’re also starting a private network of bloggers who are interested in receiving exclusive offers not open to the general public. If you have a blog that been around for at least 6 months and at least 500 subscribers, apply on our blogger sign-up form.

In addition we’re also writing articles that are focussed on viral and word of mouth realted topics and subjects. You can see all of them in the articles section of the blog and check out the first one Turning Customers in Salesmen With Word of Mouth Marketing by yours truly.

If you know of any website owners or merchants who might be interested, or who could use the service please let them know. If you know of any bloggers who are interested in doing reviews in exchange for products let them know. If you wanted to mention my new service on your blog or on twitter I’d totally be your best friend … for life

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New Website ViralConversations.com

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As much as I loathe rehashing news stories I’ll throw my hat into the failed Google buying Digg story.
IMHO Digg’s most valuable asset is it’s user data. It’s not a viable advertising platform, I’d wager 75% of the people who come to the site are using adblock or some other ad-negating software or plugin. I constantly see advertising for products like Horoscopes or Astrology which is completely mistargetting the Digg audience. While Digg has expanded the categories to target more mainstream users, the lack of moderation has lead to a hostile Lord of the Flies environment, where the average person is downright terrified to participate.

The only thing that Digg has that’s of any real value is the user data. The only person who has any real need for that is Google. Yahoo or Microsoft far too distracted. In fact watching the Yahoo – Microsoft possible buyout/merger is like watching Brett Michael in Rock Of Love trying to find true love … entertaining, but right now it’s never going to happen.

So who’s left who is interested in Digg?

If there’s one thing you can learn from facebook, it’s tons of users does not always = lots of revenue. In fact if the core of your user base sees the advertisng as an obstacle, you’re going to have a hard time convincing anyone it’s a good spot to be seen.

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Digg’s Most Valuable Asset is User Data … Who Else But Google Needs That

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Are you coming to SMX social in NY on October 16th and 17th? Did I mention I’m going to be speaking along with other people like Rand, Rebecca, Neil, Cameron, Chris and whole bunch of other people too? Did you know Stephen Spencer will also be there, and he always drops some good tips. So here’s the registration form if you are thinking about it, and don’t wait to long I hear it’s a limited attendance event.

The night before the conference starts (Oct 15) the Internet Marketers of New York in conjunction with Best of the Web Directory is holding a charity party. The guys from BOTW are covering the cost of drinks for the night, but we’re asking everyone to contribute $40 at the door for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 100% of any money collected at the door will be going to charity. You don’t have to be going to SMX to attend it’s open to anyone in the area who wants to attend. Here’s the details

Town Tavern
3rd St and 6th Ave
Monday Oct 15th
7pm – 10PM

So we look forward to seeing you, please spread the word, and again big thanks to BOTW for pitching in.

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SMX Social and Charity Party

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I filled out an invite to be part of the beta program for Sphere blog search a long time ago when Steve Rubel mentioned it back in October. I never was accepted but I was notified this morning it was live and I could blog about it after 7am so here goes.

The most interesting component of Sphere is the bookmarklet called “sphereit”. The instruction on how to make it work are pretty simple and can be found on on the tools page so there’s no need for me to repeat it here. Once installed I needed a test case, I cruised over to Google news and found this story on Amazon using MSN instead of Google for A9. Clicking the Sphereit button yielded the the following screen:

Click to Enlarge SphereIt Blog Search

I’ve labeled each of the sections to make explaining it a bit easier:

1. Search Box: SHows that I used the sphere it bookmarklet and the URI for the subject.
2. Time frame: Choose from last hour, last 12 hours, last day, last week, last 4 months. Cool if you want to follow a story that has been going on and you want only fresh results (hey Google see it’s not just about authority freshness counts too)
3. Relevance: Sort by authority or reverse chronological order (newest first)
4. Language: Lets you limit your search only to english or any language
5. Permalink: The title for the listing links back to the permalink for that article
6. Site Link: Links back to the main site for the permalink listed.
7. Profile: Provides some basic info about the site such as average number of posts per week, average number of words, average links per post, links to the last set of posts, and links to more posts indexed from that domain. Feeding the ego search on the blogosphere a key component.
8. Age: Gives a rough idea how old the post is.
9. RSS: RSS feed to repeat the search. Not useful for this example search but pretty easy to see how it could be useful for subject, theme, vanity, or ego tracking.
10. Blank Space: Lots of obvious blank space, place holder for advertising?

Now that we’ve gotten past the mechanics what do I think, I like that I can easily limit the time frame for my search that’s really important. Giving me the ability to change from a relevance to stritcly chronological sort isn’t quite as useful, and may be “giving away the goods” on a the ranking algo. I totally love the RSS feed button.

Let’s look at a keyword search for example [google calendar] I’ve marked the new areas in the screen shot below:

Click to Enlarge Sphere Blog Search

1. Multiple Listings: Multiple clustered listings from one search, usually a good thing.
2. Domain Search: Lists pages only from that domain (you lose the topic search)
3. Featured Blogs: Lists blogs that have been selected to be noteworthy. On that page there is a “suggest a blogger” link (hint, hint, wink, wink nudge nudge)
4. Related Media: Links to another page with photos from webshots also has link. Links to Yahoo News books and podcasts, suggest links for all sections. (screen shot below)

Click to Enlarge Sphere Media Search

I really like the related media section, the images search links seemed to be broken as of this writing so hopefully they will fix that. Not sure why the didn’t go with the obvious and more content rich Flickr, especially since they are using Yahoo to distribute news stories and podcast search results. Maybe if I shamelessly link to Jeremy, he’ll catch this and suggest it to the right people (we had the same taste in “I’m not Matt Cutts” t-shirts so worth a shot).

Overall impression this is a pretty good implementation. Google Blog Search kinda sucks, and Yahoo burried Yahoo Blog Search in Yahoo news (hint to Yahoo no one is going to take you as a serious blog search player if you don’t think it’s serious enough to exist on it’s own not the foster child of news searches).

What Other Blogs had to Say about Sphere Blog Search

Steve Rubel Micro Persuasion: Sphere Blog Search is a Contender

Sphere is a welcome addition to the blog search crowd, which Technorati has largely dominated. Competition is good for everyone, including Technorati. It’s beautiful to look at, simple to use and delivers excellent results.

Chris Sherman from Search Engine Watch Sphere: A New Approach to Blog Search

Sphere takes a new approach to blog search, looking at three critical variables to understand both individual blog posts and the nature of the blog they appear on. As with web search, Sphere attempts to understand link structures—who’s linking to whom, and what are the quality of the links. Crucial to this analysis is an attempt to understand who’s starting or leading discussions in contrast to those bloggers who are simply commenting on existing conversations.

TechCrunch » New Blog Search Engine Sphere Launches

Sphere, which follows in the footsteps of previous blog search engines like Feedster, Technorati and IceRocket, as well as offerings from Google and Yahoo, is doing things quite a bit differently than its predecessors (and its evolved dramatically since our first look at it back in October).

Microbrands and Micromarketing Sphere Search Engine For Blogosphere at Customers On Fire

It does have some interesting features in that you can view a “profile” of a blog before you visit, it outlines how many links are incoming and outgoing, and provides some data on the average length of posts and number of links per post.

Ben Metcalfe Blog Sphere blog search launches

In conclusion, I would say Sphere is worth keeping an eye on as they bring on new features, however I’ll stick to my existing blog search tools for the time being.

Technorati Tags: blogs, blog search, sphere, sphere blog search, sphere it

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Looking at Sphere Blog Search and the Sphere It Bookmarklet

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So there I was cruising over to Google Zeitgeist hoping to find some data on local searches and I’m still upset that Zeitgeist doesn’t have an RSS feed (Hey Matt Cutts if hook you up with some Red Bull’s in Vegas can you make that happen for code jam 2006?) and I stumble across Google Current. Think Kurt Loder of MTV news explaining popular Google terms in a video, which I actually kind of liked. Oh yeah and did I mention that Google current video has an RSS feed and Google Zeitgeist doesn’t have an RSS feed.

Technorati Tags: google, google.zeitgeist, google.current

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Google Current and Google Zeitgeist

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I can’t see how you could be a player in this space and not have heard of Istockphoto, but hey I guess it’s possible. They have one of the largest most diverse library of stock photos all available for about $1 a pop. Let’s be honest you really can’t ask for more than than that. In a recent update however They announced they had been acquired by Getty Images

In Getty Images, we have found our perfect partner. On February 9, in the early hours of the morning, iStockphoto agreed to join the Getty Images family, functioning independently with the benefits of Getty Images, yet, very importantly for them and us, autonomy. They will nurture and encourage our pioneering spirit so that our entrepreneurial culture will continue to thrive.

Now while I’m happy and all for the Istockphoto people I have to admit I’m concerned as a web publisher. Getty Images is clearly an “old school” type of business with old world (aka print world) style licences and pricing, for those of you in the back of the class that mean hundreds of dollars per picture instead of $1 per picture. Let’s hope things stay a little in line with Istockphoto because a dramatic price increase like that will affect the way I do business.

hat tip to Guy Kawasaki

Technorati Tags: Istockphotos, pictures, stock.photography

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

IStockphoto Acquired

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the US Government wants Google to turn over some of it’s search records and history.

MercuryNews.com Feds after Google data

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases.

The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

The Mountain View-based search and advertising giant opposes releasing the information on a variety of grounds, saying it would violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade secrets, according to court documents.

Good on Google for standing up to the feds, whether they will succeed or not is bit iffy right now. Kinda makes you regret installing that toolbar, webaccelerator, using personalized search, and GMail now doesn’t it?

Categories:( google | google | government | government | privacy | privacy | security | security)

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

US Government Wants Google’s Data

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Is blogging. especially live blogging considered journalism? As the great Jedi Master Yoda said “Difficult to see the future is, always in motion, the blogosphere clouds everything…”. Ok well not exactly but he did say something close. The question still remains though is live blogging journalism? The waters continue to get muddier and muddier when people blog about events that get big media and TV airplay. For example take a look at the Live Blogging The Golden Globes Report

I was debating whether or not to do this because I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough time, but I figure a supermodel orgy only takes about an hour, so after that I’d have all the free time in the world. Anyways, I’m getting a late start on this since I’m on the West Coast and not very good with time, but I’ll try to get caught up here.

The language and tone are completely different from anything you’d ever see or here on TV even on the E! channel. There a few other pretty good jabs in the piece as well. 2005 may have been the year of the blog, but 2006 will be the year blogs got interesting.

Technorati Tags: bloggolden.globesentertainment

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Live Blogging the Golden Globes

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Earlier this week Google launched Google Video, a service which allows you to download and play videos. Some big time players are participating in the distribution like CBS and the NBA. While some of these videos are free many of them have a nominal download fee (currently $$3.95 or less). This puts them on a level playing field with ITunes videos for the Video Ipod. Now I’m not big on TV and don’t have a need for watching a TV show or movie on my IPod but I understand how many people would want this service.If you spend time commuting on a train or bus you could time shift your viewing and get more done. Go to a vacation home and don’t want to schlep a tape, you can catch up with Desperate Housewives at your lakeside cabin on your video IPod. Very similar to podcasting not only can you to time shift your viewing, but now you can location shift it as well.

Looking at the prices I’m not really sure how profitable it is. For example I can see there being some demand for last weeks Lakers or Knicks game, but will those shows have any sales next year, probably not. Still we are breaking new ground here, so profitability is always a bit iffy at this stage of the game. The question is how much income will people shift to vodcasting. When I was a kid TV was free (ugh do I sound old), but now my monthly cable bill excluding broadband is about $70. Throw in Tivo that’s another $13 a month. If I were to download more than three or four shows a month that would be over $100 just to watch TV. For this portable video to really catch on I think they will need a bulk pricing or subscription rate.

Another thing that will be interesting to watch develop is an internet broadcasting channel. There are quality vodcasts out there like Nerd TV and RocketBoom with Amanda Congdon (video link) but most of what’s out there lacks substance. However I predict that within the next 2 years, a company will make a serious bid to be the worlds first Internet based TV Network. Production costs will be similar to regular networks but distribution costs will be lower. The question that will come up is to monetize it via subscription or download fees or via advertising. Will consumers accept advertising in downloaded videos? Of course the next generation of video players could be more interactive allowing you to “click to buy” or “click for more information” but interruptive marketing is still a controversial subject. If I were to make a prediction I would go with a subscription based revenue model as the one that has the greatest chance of succeeding.

Want to know the one killer move to make portable video catch on, remove restrictive DRM’s. Allow me to move it to my portable video player, PVR, or into my DVD equipped automobile. Let me become attached, and dependent on it, then you’ll have a service I’m ready to pay for.

Categories:( ipod | ipod | ipod.video | ipod.video | google.video | google.video | itunes.video | itunes.video | rocketboom | rocketboom | nerd.tv | nerd.tv)

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Internet Based TV Network

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