[GLLUG] Is MS bribing bloggers?

[Sean O'Malley]

On Fri, 29 Dec 2006, Clay Dowling wrote:

> The lunches and the pistons tickets, that's a different matter.

so THAT is how you get Piston's tickets. =)

It is nothing more then "stealth marketing".  It is the "hot"
way to market stuff now. You generate a buzz among "cool" people and get
them talking about your product. It is done with clothes, booze, cigs, and
everything else especially where you want to get "in" with the trendy
crowd.

Companies PAY people to promote their products on blogs, forums, chat,
etc.

60 minutes had something on this like 4 years ago where 12 y/o's
were getting paid to promote a certain product on chat and in forums and
stuff. It has been going on a lot longer then that. I have seen it on the
net since around 95-96.. In chat rooms, and forums.. Even stuff like
Amazon product reviews, software reviews, etc..

The idea behind it is that "Word of Mouth" advertising is more effective
then any commercial advertising.

Actually there are at least a couple of companies that specialize in this
type of marketing campaign.

And really the "bloggers" might not be getting paid directly by Microsoft
and are most likely contracted through a third party advertising company.

I have also seen some people not actually getting paid but to pump up a
product by a company they are heavily invested in either through stocks or
training/certifications.

The jist of it is, be careful whose Word you trust. :)