I was thrilled to lead a discussion on “sponsored conversations” at yesterday morning’s Social Media Breakfast Houston, held at Coffee Groundz, THE hangout for social media events in the city.
A crowd of 25 or so braved the morning rain–and a fire across the street!–for the occasion.
We broke the attendees into small groups to tackle these four questions:
1) Should bloggers (and podcasters, Twitterers, etc.) create an official disclosure policy around sponsored content?
2) What considerations should brands and PR agencies have in mind when approaching bloggers about a sponsored post or experience?
3) How might sponsored blog posts break the trust of the community, and what should bloggers do to keep the relationship with their readers intact?
4) Bloggers vs. Journalists: Are the rules any different?
The wide-ranging discussions that ensued indicated that the ethics and accepted norms of sponsored conversations are still very much in flux.
We also tried an experiment in “storystreaming” by crowdsourcing event photos to a new SMB Houston blog on Posterous.
The next SMB Houston is tentatively scheduled for Friday, October 2. To join the e-mail listen, contact Jennifer Texada: Jennifer – AT – yahoo – DOT – com.
1 comment so far ↓
Great discussion on a hot/humid Houston day. Thanks for making the trek to our little city, Bryan! Full disclosure – Bryan did not pay me or even expect me to write a comment.