Payola Becomes Blogola, Courtesy of Microsoft

Ethics and public relations in the blogosphere have taken a severe beating in 2006. Phony bloggers. Diggers paid to digg. Bloggers paid to post. It all culminates in the sketchiest move yet as bloggers begin receiving top-of-the-line laptops on their doorsteps, loaded with Windows Vista, courtesy of Microsoft, AMD and Edelman. It may be a sign of what's to come. In 2007, are we to expect the modern version of the phony blog called Wal-Marting Across America, which purported itself as an authentic account of an RV-traveling family camping out in Wal-Mart parking lots. But when one blogger spilled the beans today that he got an early Christmas gift with "no strings attached," other bloggers felt compelled to confess they got one too. The Acer Ferrari model 64 bit dual-core notebook computer blogger Robert Scoble immediately labeled it "PayPerPost." LeBlanc, however, has defended Microsoft and denies that the gift will have any impact on how he blogs: Microsoft isn't a hardware company but they have every right to work together with a company such as AMD to give bloggers some new hardware along with software for them to review and talk about. As for the "pay-per-post" concept - you won't see that applied here on my blog. I don't have any ads, I don't make any money off this site and I don't intend on letting a donated laptop influence my posting. LeBlanc, and others, expressed the intent to disclose where his new Acer came from in a subsequent post, citing the hectic holiday season as the reason for not doing so. And besides, if people make a stink about this, bloggers may stop getting free stuff! Which leads me to my next question. Where's my free laptop? I write about you guys all the time. Such is the problem, illustrates Or maybe Edelman and Microsoft are falling back on the age-old adage "there's no such thing as bad publicity." Tag: Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl Bookmark Murdok: