With the announcement earlier today that Google is launching a PPA Program there's been varied reactions to it - I took a survey in BlogPulse right now and got 73 results (at the moment I pulled the data - there will be many more results in a day or two when you click on the link above):
There were 73 blog posts picked up but there was many in a foreign language or where the expression of feeling was not clear (22); the rest were easy to read. I discounted any duplicates and came up 58 blog posts that I would consider (so 15 posts were thrown out because they were duplicates or would not load).
|
Attitude |
# of blog posts |
| don't know | 22 |
| neutral | 13 |
| positive | 18 |
| negative | 5 |
Overall, I'd say the reaction so far is cautiously positive towards Google. However, there are some sentiments I came across that don't feel that way, like Publishing 2.0 with Can Google Transform The Entire Web Into A Direct Marketing Machine?
"…Google’s contextual advertising revolution has already transformed the structure of the web, leading to the creation of millions of web pages with no other real purpose than to serve AdSense ads. The content on these pages is purely a vehicle for advertising — the traditional Chinese Wall between editorial and advertising has been obliterated. And it has force many publishers who follow a more traditional editorial path to start poking holes in the wall. Content has always been a marketing vehicle, but never at such a granular, easy-to-manipulate level.
With its CPA program, Google will drive this phenomenon to the next level. With cost-per-click ads, spammers create bogus pages where confused consumers click on ads in an effort to escape. But with CPA ads, clicking is not enough. The game is now to manipulate consumers not only to click, but to take some further action. And I don’t use the word “manipulate” arbitrarily. This is about turning the web into one big pile of junk mail, aimed at getting you to sign up, buy, or commit to something that you hadn’t necessarily wanted."
I suppose that one outcome is tricking people into buying something or doing something that someone is willing to pay for, beyond clicking on an ad. But, if that really happens the way it is described above - it will turn a lot of people off and I'm not sure that's in Google's interest.
I personally, like the idea of linking everything together in Google Analytics and via Search Engines. I'm not an affiliate marketer so I don't really care that much, one way or the other about the Affiliate Networks. I suppose if I was an affiliate marketer, I might care more.
My feeling, right now, is with the majority…. I feel overall, this a good development. Let's see how it goes once Google PPA is rolled out.
