Blue Man Group, Paid Posts, and Google Lovin’
I’m in fabulous Las Vegas for this year’s Pubcon! One of the great activities is blogger’s night out. Joe Morin arranged for free tickets to some of the top show’s in Vegas. The idea being that bloggers go see the shows, bloggers blog about the shows, the shows get some ePublicity. Hey lookee me! I am blogging about the free show I went to see - Blue Man Group (I almost wrote “The Blue Man Group” but according to the digital press kit I received, that’s a no-no).
Now if you want my review of a Blue Man Group (not the) , it is kind of hard to say without knowing more about your likes and dislikes. It is hard to say bad things about Blue Man Group - they are so into what they are doing, seem to be having such a good time, it is really infectious. Still, though, there is not all that much variety to the act. I’d say if you have the opportunity go see them - I enjoyed the show - but I don’t see a need to see them a second time.
Ok, enough of my non-committal review. Let’s get down to serious matters … will Google still love me in the morning? Now I know a bunch of you crazies are thinking maybe Matt Cutts was at the show and I did something inappropriate (know to happen in Vegas). That is not the case. In case you missed it, I’ll do it again, my link to Blue Man Group didn’t have no stinkin’ rel-nofollow.
Now I am no expert on these matters, but if I was given a free ticket to an expensive show with the understanding that I would blog about it that seems to fit Google’s definition of a paid review. Sure there is a long history of entertainment shows of all stripes providing free opening-night tickets to traditional media with the understanding that they would review the show, but I am just a blogger.
Maybe, though, I’ll skate by since I disclosed the ticket was given to me in exchange for this post. Maybe I’ll skate by because I also gave other people straight links. Maybe I’ll skate by because I’m under the radar. Maybe I’ll skate by because I’ll edit this post and add nofollow.
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June 12th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Very funny. It is interesting the distinctions made between “real” and “citizen” journalism that are being eroded AND shored-up from every side, every day. I like the idea that a savvy Web professional can survive an audit based on code finagles. Darwinian, and democratic if you choose to see it that way.