An Overview of SocialSpark
There is nothing new about sponsored posts. However, IZEA is attempting to reinvent the wheel with their new service, SocialSpark, currently in private alpha testing.
Due out back in January, SocialSpark has been in development for quite sometime. It wasn’t until mid-March that access keys were actually being handed out to those “promised†at the first look. At the end of March, my invitation key arrived via email where I jumped into the system not for actual use but to look.
Let me state at this point that I haven’t done much with the site. No, I won’t be accepting sponsored posts via SocialSpark, there will be no site sponsors here, nor will I be using IZEA’s RealRank system.
The following is information based on having access to the website and saying up-to-date on all things SocialSpark.
For the first time, SocialSpark has made promises of creating unity between advertisers and bloggers. This is something that hasn’t been done unless you privately sell advertising space on your blog. With a slew of features, SocialSpark brings social networking and sponsored posts together.
This is not your MySpace or Facebook application while some of the features may seem the same: profile messaging, private messaging, friend requests, and the ability to comment on blogger and advertiser profiles.
Features
Blog Sponsorship
From the first announcement at PostieCon, I knew that Blog Sponsorships were something that I would never be using. The intrusive advertisement acts as a pop-up window before your visitor even reaches your blog. With a blackout screen to your blog’s content, an advertisement will display to your visitors once per week when visiting your blog:
The advertisement calls an action to your visitor to close the window. As an alternative, your visitor can wait 10 seconds for the advertisement to disappear. Once it has, your blog will now carry a thick bar at the very bottom of the blog’s screen:
Actual Height
This bar will sit at 100% width on your blog. Thus reducing the amount of real content above the fold. To make it worse, it’ll follow your visitor around your blog and while scrolling blog pages. You can see it in action at Drew’s blog, The Wired Kayaker.
This may be one of the most debated features of SocialSpark with an ever increasing thread about it on IZEA’s forum. [ View Thread ]
Sponsored Posts
Just as PayPerPost, SocialSpark enables the good ‘ol sponsored post opportunity. However, as a leg up to PayPerPost’s system, SocialSpark’s sponsored posts come with pre-coded links that carry the nofollow attribute thus reducing your chances of being hit by Google for selling PageRank.
While this system is initially good for bloggers that actually carry traffic to help an advertiser out with clicks, blogs that used to have sponsored posts simply for SEO purposes, will no longer have the opportunity to take sponsored posts based on low traffic trends (as reported through the IzeaRanks system).
That minor set back doesn’t seem to be an issue. By viewing the threads in the IZEA forum, bloggers and PayPerPost users are ready, willing, and excited for the use of the nofollow attribute in SocialSpark.
Since SocialSpark is still in private alpha, the only advertiser available to give out SocialSpark opportunities is IZEA themselves. Here’s a look at the current opportunities available for SocialSpark alpha testers.
As you can see by the screen shot, payouts are set as low as $5.50 USD. Just $.50 above what the competitor, PayU2Blog pays for just a single link in an everyday post on a blog. Hardly worth the time and effort.
To make the low payout even more unique, as more bloggers take the opportunity available, the payout beings to drop. For the real money making potential, a blogger would have to prey on SocialSpark for opportunities to come available and be one of the firsts to accept the opportunity and post to their blog. Competition, just like in PayPerPost, will be stiff for the higher payouts.
Incentive is available however to make unique, quality posts on sponsored posts with a bonus payout for every opportunity. However, bonus payout is paid at the advertiser’s discretion and thus could end up being only a teaser.
Sparks
Used to promote other bloggers, Sparks are free opportunities placed by both bloggers and advertisers and are taken without pay. Currently being used to review blogs, promote non-profits, and give other blogger’s post inspiration, Sparks are a great way to interact with other bloggers and begin to create a community within SocialSpark.
One of the more interesting features of a Spark opportunity is the “Blog U Back” feature.
By creating a free Spark opportunity, the option can be included to have the creator of the Spark “blog u back” which means they’ll post about you on their blog. This is an interesting system for trading blogger reviews, asking questions and answering on your own blog, or exchanging links in a unique manner.
Changes from PayPerPost
PayPerPost was innovative, just as SocialSpark today. With an ever growing blogosphere and desire to earn a passive income with blogs, new media concepts have to be truly innovative and unique. Two years ago, that was PayPerPost. But with the slow launch of SocialSpark on the horizon, it’s now SocialSpark’s turn to shine and correct some features within PayPerPost that became an issue.
Here’s a brief and incomplete scan of those corrections:
- The use of no follow tags (as previously mentioned).
- Ability to connect with an advertiser, especially useful when a blogger doesn’t qualify for an opportunity. A blogger can appeal to the advertiser to be allowed into an opportunity that the qualifications segmented the blogger out of.
- All posts are “natural in tone” meaning the tone of “positive, neutral, or buzz” will no longer be dictated. You’re free to say what you wish and will still get paid!
Disclosure
IZEA took major grief in the beginning of PayPerPost by not requiring disclosure for sponsored posts. From the public roar about no disclosure, PayPerPost answered the call with their website DisclosurePolicy.org which led bloggers and webmasters through a serious of questions to create the perfect disclosure policy. However, no freedom was given to the blogger to use or not use a disclosure. Payment for taken opportunities would not be issued without an in-post disclosure (as required by the advertiser) or a site-wide disclosure policy (a condition in the PayPerPost terms of service).
SocialSpark requires in-post disclosure for every paid opportunity taken. This means without fail, you’ll be announcing to your visitors, search engines, and critics every time you take a sponsored post. I hate it.
Taking a sponsored post should require seamless integration within your blog. Being a blogger’s resource blog, I wouldn’t go and take a sponsored post about skin care. It’s not my niche and it’s not natural. By following this personal code of ethics for my blog, a in-post disclosure shouldn’t be required as a sponsored post should be something I’d be willing to write about… with or without the looming payment.
TechCrunch was the biggest voice in the lack of required disclosure in the PayPerPost marketplace. Ted Murphy answered their call by making it a requirement. Yet, TechCrunch doesn’t follow their own advice with no disclosure policy on their website for any of their more than obvious advertisements.
Analytics
Unlike PayPerPost that relied on the Alexa rank and PageRank of a blog to segment blogs in or out of opportunities, SocialSpark will utilize IZEA’s own RealRank. Enabling advertisers to view the specs of each blog right on the SocialSpark website.
Izea’s Analytics include information such as page views, visitors, RealRank average, Alexa rank, Google PageRank, and ROI (return on investment) rank. While it’s complete, I have concerns about the accuracy reports based on the inaccuracy reports generated from the public use of the IzeaRanks website. The good news for bloggers however, is that it’s rumored that PageRank will not at all be used in SocialSpark as a means of segmenting bloggers out of opportunities. Since Google removed PageRank for a lot of these bloggers, that’s good news.
Final Thoughts
It appears to me that SocialSpark will best be used with smaller niche bloggers or the “Mommy Bloggers,” clearly their target market based on a current SocialSpark opportunity posted by IZEA.
The headline of this opportunity currently available for the taking reads “SocialSpark is Great for Mommy Bloggers.”
At the moment, I have no intentions of using SocialSpark as a monetization method on I’m Blogging That. However, I may participate in Sparks depending on the requirement for disclosure in these opportunities. It’ll be interesting to watch the future development of this site. And I’m looking forward to more reactions when SocialSpark goes public beta.
My information for this post was gained through browsing the posts on IZEA’s blog about SocialSpark, reading through the IZEA forum boards, and actually browsing through the SocialSpark website. While I cannot guarantee the accuracy of every opinion stated here, I feel that I’m being more clear and straight forward about SocialSpark than IZEA themselves have been. Should I discover that I have not stated something here correctly, modifications will be made to this post.
What are your thoughts on SocialSpark? At this point, does it look like something you’re interested in using for monetizing your blog?
SocialSpark alpha testers were bound by non-disclosure agreement at the start of alpha testing. However, I’m feeling free to post this information on my blog based on Ted Murphy’s post on the IZEA forums which may be viewed here.
This post was written by I’m Blogging That’s former owner, Katy Castro who can now be found blogging at Unedited Life.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I honestly don’t think that the value of these sponsored posts are adequate. Meaning… $5 for a sponsored post? I just don’t know if it’s worth my time…
April 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I am really pleased with SS. I think they have addressed the concerns that they were given heck about and that tells me that they are trying so comply.
I really like the sparks as well and have enjoyed the site socially. There is still some tweaking to do but I’m sure they will work the kinks out;)
GREAT post Katy.
April 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
$5 is a lot of money to a mommy blogger. And mommy blogs have a pretty large audience. I’m looking forward to more Social Spark opportunities!
Great post, very informative.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
$5 isn’t worth the readers I could potentially lose, friends I’ve made? Not worth it. I’ll keep my membership, maybe do a few trades, if disclosure isn’t required, but no paid posts because of those god-awful disclosure badges.
Honestly, $5 is not a lot of money to Mommy Bloggers, especially with the other hits that come with it. Yeah, they’re supposedly basing it on RealRank, but I seriously don’t believe that’s all it’s going to be based on. I also don’t believe a lot of advertisers are going to go for it. They were already losing a lot because of the new rules they kept implementing.
I’ll find another way to make money, thanks.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:22 am
Even tho I am NOT a fan of sponsored posts in anyway, i must side with Mrs. Mecomber here.
As direct sales is my primary target market, I deal with the mommy crowd on a daily basis, both online and off.
In the forums that I frequent the most, a very large portion of the on-going threads are regarding which PPP type site is the best for what…they really eat it up.
True some have cut back or quit altogether because of the Google slapping of PR but for the most part their going strong at 5-10$ a pop.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Paul » I agree with you. Sponsored posts have long been under paid, especially when an advertiser finds a quality blogger to post information that is accurate, on target, and brings traffic. It hasn’t been worth my time in a long time but each blogger has a different method for what’s best when monetizing their blog. Far be it for me to say that anyone shouldn’t do that.
Lori » I’m looking forward to watching SocialSpark play out with public beta and the advertisers that will be brought in and OK with the nofollow use.
Mrs. Mecomber » Your comment only re-enforces my thinking that “Mommy Bloggers” don’t understand their value. I have seen many situations where a Mom could hold off on a $5 sponsored post to make $20 next month and never do. While I understand that Mommy Bloggers have a large audience (I blog about my personal and family life too), I hate to watch these hard working Moms under-value themselves and their blogs. Frankly, for me, it’s come to a point where I don’t want the title Mommy Blogger… I’m more than that with niche blogs and I’m not alone. Yet others fail to recognize their potential by just holding off.
Sarah » Agreed! There’s a lot to lose still with sponsored posts. Thank you for reinforcing my thoughts with $5 sponsored posts.
Dennis » See my comment to Mrs. Mecomber… it very much applies for your statement as well. My feelings about Mommy Bloggers isn’t the $5 opportunities they’re willing to take but the lack of potential they give themselves.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I completely agree, Katy. There’s more to lose than there is to gain. There are so many other ways to earn money with blogs and sites, without having to resort to sponsored posts. There are plenty of affiliate programs, ones where a mom can pick and choose which products she wants to endorse. There are pay-per-click programs, and more than just Google.
And I also agree with your reply to Mrs. Mecomber. I see a lot of “mommy bloggers” just don’t understand their value. I find it sad, and disappointing, that they claim $5 is so much money, but honestly, PayPal takes a chunk of that for themselves, and then you’re left with about $3.50. That won’t even buy you a gallon a gas in most of the US.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:31 am
“I” personally totally agree, I just see what I see day in and out. Like also being happy taking $3 for ghostwriting an article when they could be making a lot more…..you know the person receiving it will make a lot more then $3 with it.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:58 am
@Sara…I think if your friends are your REAL friends, they’ll stay and understand. My readers know darn well that I get paid to post but they’re still there. With a high of a 300 subscriber count, I don’t think regular readers care about that kind of stuff. To me, it’s mainly serious bloggers that it tends to bother.
I also agree with Mrs. Mecomber and Dennis that $5 is a lot to some of us.
Yes, there is more money that can be made but some people are not educated enough or just flat out don’t want to learn how to do other methods. They want easy and a paid post is easy.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Katy,
Thanks for this. This post is EXACTLY what I was looking for in a review of Social Spark. I was clicking around the site trying to figure out its features. I think it is great for networking. I may take some OPPs because blogging is for extra cash for me, not my prime occupation.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
very thorough review Katy, of a very broad blogger/advertiser social network, advertising marketplace and blogger analytics site…a lot to cover in a single review, but you did a great job.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Great article as always Katy. I got my invitation to start Social Sparking a couple days ago. I may get around to it. I made $27 last night on PPP simply reciting a funny story into my video camera. Anyway, as long as we’re having fun. I’m sure SS will be cool, they put a lot of time into it.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Great post. It really helps clear up some of my confusion about SocialSpark when I visited.
I take issue with the forced disclosure. I also couldn’t understand the falling bounty on certain post opportunities, I guess the more people click the lower the fee.
In the end, all I see here is a way to pay per post without Google getting on your case. Not a bad step in the right direction but they’ll need a lot of great paying sponsors before this becomes lucrative for anyone.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Wonderful review. I was not one of the lucky folks, so I’m eager for news.
I know for sure I won’t be doing the sitewide ads. I don’t like the look, plus PayU2blog has come out saying they will not use anyone who does the Social Spark banner stuff. That’s real steady income and I fit tons of links into my book reviews without breaking a sweat.
As for discloser, I disagree. I would rather disclose just like a magazine puts “advertisement” on those fancy spreads. I think if bloggers are real writers, we have the right to make money doing what we are doing.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:52 am
I have to agree with Paul (1st comment), $5 for a post just isn’t worth it. Not to be left behind though I did just signup. Maybe I’ll shell out the $5 once to give it a try.
Just my thoughts ;-)
April 13th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Personally I will take $5 it all starts to add up!
April 13th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Sarah » It’ll be interesting to see how the site develops once it’s open to the public. From there we’ll see if my assessment of it being worth it sticks.
Dennis » What I find to be the most common with pricing is that people are affraid to ask for what they believe that they’re worth. This thinking leads to the personal ultimately making significantly less money than they should. This case isn’t any different.
Lori » I’m not sure it’s necessarily about friends. Most of the commentators around here I don’t know on a personal level and have never exchanged an email with. For a niche audience, there is always the chance of losing visitors and interest when too many sponsored posts are taken. As a personal preference, I don’t tend to read blogs that over do the sponsor thing. I feel like it gets in the way of the real content.
Lisa » You’re quite welcome! Seems to me that a lot of alpha testers are struggling with the features that are offered on the site. Glad I could help in some small way.
Dan » Quite the compliment coming from you. Thank you very much.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Damien » Agreed, they have put a lot into SocialSpark. The untapped market alone is quite interesting and the coverage the site is getting will make the site’s success.
Cynthia » Glad I could help! There have been promises of big advertisers hitting the system. But I think that this type of system will hit a completely different market than PayPerPost has. Not only is a “Google friendly” sponsorship site but is really about targeting the market of the blogger’s visitors using the no-follow attribute on links. It’ll be interesting to see just how many advertisers can drop the SEO portion and actually pay well for clicks.
Tina » Well, maybe now you’ll have a running start when you’re into the system. Seems to me that PayU2Blog was not the only company that set forth a policy about site sponsorships. That alone may change exactly how many people will utilize the opportunity as it’ll put a nice damper on revenue stream without it being made up with the sponsorship.
In regards to disclosure, it’s really a matter of personal preference. For me this is the straw that broke the camels back. I’m not a magazine and neither are you. We also don’t have people purchasing millions of copies of our text to dictate how our blog should be run. By being “forced” to disclose, you’ve lost control over your own content and written word. For me, it goes right to the value of my integrity and that’s something I don’t compromise on.
Jon » The truth of the matter is that if the $5 opportunity fits within your blog’s niche and you’re happy to comply with the terms, why not? My concern is when people take the $5 opportunities and make a horrible post that is only a meek effort to fit within a blog’s niche. It’s ugly and useless for everyone.
April 14th, 2008 at 7:41 am
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April 16th, 2008 at 7:44 am
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April 18th, 2008 at 10:05 am
[...] It could be because… I recently tried out the Blog Sponsorship function on SocialSpark on two of my blogs (one of which was being used for PayU2Blog, as well). When the sponsorship function came out, PU2B simply came out against the entire Social Spark Sponsorship thing, claiming it was because the blogs belonged TO the bloggers, not SocialSpark. I’ve selected a program for this blog, but I haven’t finished evaluating its impact on the blog. Check this review of SocialSpark. [...]
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