If You Pay Them, They Will Blog [1]
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton [2] on
Corporations have begun hiring bloggers to put out their messages and to promote products, writes Mary Jacobs. Examples: "Stonyfield Farm Inc., a dairy products maker in Londonderry, N.H., hired a corporate blogger [3] to write company-hosted blogs on nutrition and health as well as organic farming. Microsoft Corp. plans to hire bloggers to generate excitement about an upcoming product release. Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano last week launched its "Next Big Thing" blog at www.eds.com/blogs [4] to discuss the future of technology." And Hill & Knowlton [5], one of the world's largest PR firms, is encouraging its employees all to blog [6]—after they pass a quiz [7]. Question #1: "Why do you want to blog?" is multiple choice, with the following options for answers: a) Get promoted; b) Get noticed; c) Get fired [8]; d) Get headhunted; e) All of the above; f) None of the above; g) I don't know.