Paying for influence - don't do it!

I'm surprised that this issue is up for debate. Yet Joel Spolsky, a credible blogger on software markets, relates his thoughts on being offered a free laptop in return for reviewing Microsoft's Vista.

My surprise is doubled when I read that Robert Scoble, a blog hero of mine, endorses the practice. Notwithstanding Scoble is these days a MS employee, he often takes a position contrary to the corporate thought police. But not this time - Scoble thinks paying reviewers (in kind) is okay.

Scoble seems to think it's purely an ethical issue, and that if you disclose the bribe you're off the hook.

Not so. Influence isn't just about ethics. It's about credibility. How credible is a reviewer if it's known they've been given a freebie worth several hundred pounds? Or that they were flown, expenses paid, to Seattle?

It's really, really tempting, with a huge marketing budget at your disposal, to spend it on this type of stunt. "If you can, you should" as the advert goes. It's this sort of act that gets marketing a bad name. Resist, please.

I also have a more general concern, and that is that bloggers' influence (at least in the US) is rated higher than it actually is. Some bloggers do have influence, but not many and only in certain markets. Has Microsoft any sense of who the truly influential bloggers are, and why?

I thought not...