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Uneasy alliance for online ethics group

May 8, 2009 6:30am
by David Gelles

Womma, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, has made its name trying to provide an ethical framework for the viral and buzz marketing industry.

It’s not an easy task, as viral and buzz practices can often appear deceptive, leading readers to believe that crafted conversations are in fact organic. Yet Womma has done a laudable job over the years, developing and revising a clear code of ethics that many companies now subscribe to.

So I was surprised to learn that Womm-U, the organisation’s upcoming summit in Miami, is being sponsored by Izea, a company notorious for its dubious ethical standards. This is a bit like if McDonald’s were to sponsor a PETA convention.

Izea is an intermediary that connects buzz-hungry companies with bloggers willing to write about a product for a fee. Formerly called PayPerPost, the company changed its name to Izea after the PayPerPost moniker became synonymous with unethical online marketing practices.

When I first covered PayPerPost back in 2007 for Forbes, the company required only sketchy disclosure from its bloggers. Since then, Izea has made some efforts to become more transparent, but little has changed, and the notion of “sponsored conversation” still leaves a bad taste in most techies’ mouths. Just yesterday, Sarah Lacy wrote a rant about the company on TechCrunch.

Womma executive director Kristen Smith explained that Izea became a Womma member just last October, after implementing a series of changes that made disclosure from its bloggers (slightly) more prominent. “They worked very hard to try to clean up their act,” Ms Smith said.

As a nonprofit membership organisation, Womma can’t discriminate against eligible members, and Izea’s efforts were evidently enough to gain them access. But after less than a year as a Womma member, Izea could soon find itself on the outs once more.

Womma recently revised its ethics code, and starting June 15, will begin dropping members that don’t meet the new, more stringent standards. The most meaningful change in the code explicitly prohibits cash compensation in exchange for reviews, even if there is full disclosure.

This is Izea’s bread and butter, so unless the company radically revises its business model, expect it to be a Womma member no more in the near future.

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May 8, 2009 6:30am in Digital media | Comment

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