phideltacity

More and more people find it worth their time to examine web services and new web sites. More and more people find it worth their time to read these writings and take them into account in their decisions. More and more people forget the basic standards of giving and taking credit where it is due and disclosing affiliations where they exist.
Especially the last item has peeved me recently. Bloggers and other journalists are becoming more and more prolific and less and less honest about why they are writing a story and how they came by it.
Yet it is clear as day that especially this information has to be taken into account when valuing the story.
It is especially peeving when people employed by a startup find it perfectly acceptable to blog, comment, twitter and advise others on the greatness of their employer without even hinting at the fact that the sole reason they are even writing is the fact that their topic is giving them a paycheck. I find this quite dishonest and inappropriate. I am also willing to bet that a large portion of their readership would agree with me on this.
That means it can backfire and any company needs to realize the potential damage in this. At the same time this is easy to avoid and can actually be turned into a positive attribute. Simply disclose your affiliation within every post. Tell the world the fact that you are not just blogging on you own behalf and out of the goodness of your heart.
I for one would take such a disclosure positively. I would esteem such a company as honest and responsive. While I would not take the article as unbiased, I would not disregard it out of hand either. In fact I would much rather do business with a site that understands basic ethics in modern communications than one that hides in the shadows and believes it can escape detection so easily achieved with any search engine.

So this is my plea to all bloggers, posters, commentors and twitterers: be honest in your statements and disclose your affiliations.