I asked for and received a key to SocialSpark, the new paid-to-blog platform offered by IZEA, Inc (the company behind PayPerPost). After several days of poking around the Alpha version and taking one opp from the marketplace, I’m ready to post my initial impressions of SocialSpark. Just so you know, Ted Murphy, CEO of the company, said it was ok for everyone to do so, so I’m not violating any NDAs here.
To be blunt, I don’t like what I’ve seen of SocialSpark thus far. I realize that the site is still in Alpha, that it’s a major release, and that there’s a long way to go, but in all honesty, I thought it would be much farther along considering the fact that it was supposed to be released in Nov. 2007 or Jan. 2008. Here we are in April, and I can’t imagine IZEA opening SS up for widespread signups anytime soon.
Here are some specific things that I don’t like or understand about SS. Please bear in mind that these are just my opinions; I’m sure you can find a bunch of people who love everything about SS. To each his (or her) own.
– I’m not crazy about the whole social networking aspect of the platform. It’s already turning into a mini MySpace with people falling all over each other to add tons of friends to their list. I have like 15 or 20 friends already (because I just accept everyone who asks), but don’t see the point. Of course, since number of friends is a filter option when browsing through users, I feel I have to keep adding people in order to keep up with other bloggers who have hundreds of friends. How ridiculous. Plus, this just clutters up an already busy profile page. Yuck.
– Taking an opp is not as straightforward as I’m used to from the old PPP. With SocialSpark, there are several different types of opps, such as sponsored posts, blog sponsorship, and sparks. “Sparks” are just buzz-type posts that you don’t get paid for, while blog sponsorships allow your blog to be taken over by a single advertiser with a god-awful splashscreen and sponsorship bar. No thanks.
Anyway, getting back to the point: it’s hard to determine whether or not I qualify for an opp (and on which blogs). Users can view every single opp whether they qualify or not, so I have to look for a tiny green bar that signifies my ability to take the opp. Then, after I do take it, instead of falling off the availability list, it just hangs around. Again, that clutters things up. I can’t take the opp again, so it should simply disappear (like the old system).
– I took an IZEA-sponsored opp and was given feedback on it in less than 12 hours. This feedback is posted in the form of a comment on my profile page, where everyone can see it. There’s no way to hide it, and worse, there’s no way for me to reply to it!! I was given a 2-tack rating for a “quality” post because of low pageviews and zero clicks. Well, excuse me, but how about giving readers a friggin’ chance to find the post first??? I’m not saying my stats would be a whole lot better after 24 or even 48 hours, but at least that would be a more realistic indication of how the post will perform. Thanks for ruining my reputation with a 2-tack rating before I’ve even had a chance to get used to the damn site.
– I don’t get how the fluctuating prices are supposed to work. From what I understand, a popular opp drops in price when more people take it, while an unpopular opp increases in price when no one (or very few people take it). Huh?? What’s the point of that? It makes no sense to me at all. I mean, I guess it would be an incentive for advertisers to create better opps, but what incentive is there for bloggers to take the good opps? I have no idea.
– It looks like ROI, clicks, and pageviews will heavily influence a blogger’s chance at success in SocialSpark. Again, good for advertisers, but not so good for bloggers who are just starting out, haven’t built much of a reader base, or don’t have as much time to market and promote themselves as others.
– Speaking of marketing and promotion, it seems that being “popular” will increase a blogger’s chances at scoring good opps. In order to be popular, though, you have to network, market, and promote your blogs. That means no more just popping in to grab an opp, write your post, and be on your merry way. No, instead, you have to do a bunch of extra things like Entrecard or whatever in order not to get lost in the tens of thousands of profiles that will be in SS once it’s launched.
Sure, many bloggers like to do these things already, and more power to them. But if you add an extra hour or two per day for marketing, then SS suddenly doesn’t become as lucrative as other PTB sites that don’t rely on these types of things. Personally, I’m the sort of person who just wants to write my post and be done with the computer. I don’t think I’m going to be able to hang out at SS all day handing out props, leaving comments for “friends”, and schmoozing with advertisers.
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There are other minor nitpicks as well (I absolutely HATE how everything defaults to all lowercase in SocialSpark even when not typed that way), but I don’t feel like going into all of that right now.
Again, the bottom line here is that I don’t see SocialSpark as being a “revolution” in paid blogging. It’s going to end up being the same old story: popular blogs with tons of page views and solid readership will rake in the cash, while average bloggers looking to make a few extra bucks per month will be left out in the cold. That’s hardly a new concept, is it?
I’m not writing SocialSpark off because I know it has a long way to go still. But I’m not going to hold my breath in the hopes that it will boost my income. I have a feeling opps will be even harder to come by in SS than they are now.
April 11th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Do people who read through RSS readers even count towards page views? I’m going to assume they don’t. That’s kinda sucky.
I read every blog through a feeder now and only click over if I’m leaving a comment.
I only leave comments if I really have something to say you know?
April 11th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hell, I have no idea, lol. Probably not. I read everything in a feed reader too, and hardly ever click through to actual sites. I’m just really upset that they didn’t give my post a chance to perform before rating it so low :(.