Image by BryanPerson via FlickrI have been reading Steven Hodson Duncan’s response and the surrounding barbs around Chris Brogans experiment in paid or sponsored posts on a blog. I agree with many of Chris’s assumptions, and Duncan’s usual vocal support from the pounding that Chris has been taking on his blog, Dad-o-matic for working with Kmart, 500-dollar gift cards, and what the reaction to the whole thing was.

While PayPerPost, Izea, Social Spark and its affiliated companies are a way to make money from writing blog entries, (I have done four in nearly 2 years now). The rules were spelled out years ago, as long as the blog entry is clearly labeled as sponsored, which the Dad-o-matic article is clearly marked, then few people will have issues with it. What caused the original issue years ago was people taking PayPerPost articles and not marking them as sponsored posts, but once marking them became standard, the conversation went away.

What is interesting is that Chris Brogan of all people should have been caught in a tempest in a teapot over the weekend on this one.

While I do not know Chris, and somewhat know Duncan, the whole issue of sponsored posts is an issue that the blogosphere talked about two years ago, agreed to ground rules, and then called it a day. The twitter conversation has been interesting to follow, enough so much that Chris felt like he had to write an article explaining why he did what he did and what he gained (and what toys for tots gained) out of the whole experiment.

The reality is that many companies are trying to figure out how to get into social media and people like Chris, Beth Kanter, myself, and others are all trying to help them get into social networking. Understanding the underlying culture, what to do when things blow up, and what to do when things are going well are important things to know and understand. This is a brave new world, where the rules are not defined, or clearly spelled out as they are in Marketing. These are important things to do, and while I focus on China and SE Asia (much cooler markets, that is why I am there), they are facing the same issues, and the same cultural issues that people the world over are facing.

How to connect, how to experiment, and what to do when someone goes orbital because of something you did or said. Chris was right to experiment, and right to mark the whole process as sponsored, and excellent of Kmart to at try. If anything, everyone should get a pat on the back for this one, Chris for putting up with the peanut gallery, and Kmart for trying out something new.

We need more companies to experiment like this, and we need more people like Chris just willing to see where all this will take us to.

Tags: chris brogan, kmart, peanut gallery, experiment, gift card, cool