Shady ethics in the blogosphere Scott Kirsner, former Boston Globe writer, has a thoughtful piece on disclosure in the blogosphere. He points out the ethical dilemmas posed by business' efforts to court bloggers with free stuff and even cash payments for positive coverage. There is no code of ethics in the blogosphere, of course, outside of perhaps the Cluetrain Manifesto, so it's up to the readers to decide whom to believe.

Personally, I believe this issue will work itself out at the grass roots level. Look at Engadget and BoingBoing, which are two of the most popular and successful blogs. They need to uphold high standards or their audiences would quickly desert them. The same holds true at less-popular titles. The blogosphere is self-policing, and any popular blogger who tries to deceive his or her audience will be quickly smoked out. Once you get a reputation for shady ethics, it's very difficult to recover. Any blogger who wants to build a long-term franchise will be very careful not to cross that line.

There will always be con men in social media, but their influence will be limited. The readers will see to that.

Labels: blogging, ethics

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