Dear Ted
I used to write to Santa around this time of year, but I think I’m a little old for that now. Plus, some little kid told me the other day that Santa isn’t real - I don’t think that can be true, but I admit it shook me more than a little. So, I decided that as I couldn’t write to Santa anymore, each year I’d write to someone from my life - whether that be someone that I know, or someone that works for a company I deal with, a Government that has dominion over me, and so on. This is the first year and I thought that I’d send a missive to the Murphman.
Ted, I’m a fairly new Postie - I’ve been regularly submitting posts for just over a month now - but I was interested in PPP for quite some time before that. The idea of “getting paid to blog about the things you love” appealed to me, on top of which I was rooting for your success because one of my friends works for you. You always want your friends to be successful, right?
I’ve read much of what people like Arrington and Calacanis (and many others who’s names I can’t remember) have written about PPP, and the personal attacks they’ve made against you and other members of your team. They do like to bandy the “e” word about, don’t they? Even my personal blogging inspiration, Wil Wheaton, jumped on that bandwagon and boy, did he go down in my estimation because of it. I’ve written posts and comments defending PPP and criticising the critics for their double-standards and lack of perspective.
What I’m trying to say, is that I am a PayPerPost fan and I’m glad to see that you’re having the success that you are - 100,000+ bloggers and 12,500+ advertisers, after what? 18 months? All power to you.
But I have to temper my admiration with some disappointment, and it’s this which is the focus of this letter (sorry to be on a downer at this festive time of year). I’d just like to share with you some of the issues that have made themselves apparent while I’ve been using PPP over the last month or so.
The first issue is purely technical, and I suspect many Posties will have the same gripe; the site is really slow. I mean, snail-pace. It can take about a minute for my dashboard to load when I sign in. That’s on a 1mb broadband line with a less than 6 months old iMac. It’s slow enough that I’ve lost Opportunities because of it. I know that Pete and the guys are working on it, and that it’s probably a result of your success where your hardware hasn’t kept pace with your users, but that’s something that should have been foreseen perhaps?
The next issue is one that I know has been a bugbear for PPP since the beginning and you’ve taken a lot of flak for it - disclosure. It’s good that PPP requires disclosure now, but some of your advertisers don’t seem so keen on the idea. I’ve seen Opps that specifically state that in-post disclosure is not acceptable. Personally, I don’t think this is the right way to allow advertisers to go. On The Wolf’s Howl @ BlogSpot, I’ve made a promise to all my readers that EVERY sponsored post will be identified in-post, in addition to my site-wide disclosure notice. When I see an Opp that objects to this, that’s an Opp that I can’t take.
My reason for imposing this restriction on myself is that a lot of people read blogs in a feed reader. If you’ve only got a site-wide disclosure, and not in-post, then those reading your blog in a feed-reader will not see anything to indicate that the post they are reading has been paid for. While it may be obvious from the content, I feel that it is beholden on me to be 100% transparent with my readers when it comes to what I’ve been paid for and what I haven’t. I know that not all bloggers hold the same opinion I do and that’s fair enough. I just don’t think advertisers should be able to dictate disclosure policy.
While we’re on the subject of advertisers, you’ve been making much of the fact that you have in excess of 12,500 on board now. Congratulations on getting so many, but I’d be interested in knowing how many are active, as the number of available Opps doesn’t seem to be increasing. Indeed, the number today is quite low and, if taken as a percentage of that 12,500, is really not anything to write home about. I know you’ve got an uphill struggle because of people like TechCrunch, with a mountain of bad press to overcome and I imagine it’s hard to convince new advertisers to come on board, but you need to maximise the Opps available from the ones you’ve got or you’re going to start losing bloggers, which you really can’t afford.
And so that leads me to bloggers. Again, the numbers are impressive - over 100,000 now. But how many are actively writing posts for PPP? With the limited number of Opps, I guess it can’t be too many. And I know that a lot are quite upset that their Google PageRank has been annihilated because of their association with PPP. Even with the introduction of RealRank, you run the risk of losing quite a number of accounts.
I think it’s the limited number of Opps that are your biggest enemy. Before I started writing for PPP, I read a blog post that was attacking your business model, and I made a comment along the lines that PPP encourages bloggers to only take posts that they have experience of or interest in and to write about what they know. The blogger suggested that I needed to wake up and smell the coffee but that if I was happy to prostitute my integrity and shill for Ted Murphy, then I could go ahead with his blessing. But having written for PPP for a while now, I can see how bloggers would be prepared to let their standards slip, because they need to earn some money and the only Opps available are ones they don’t have any experience of, but they can fake it. That perpetuates the unsavoury image of PPP that has been propogated and does you no favours at all.
Something else that does you no favours is RockStartUp. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I really enjoy seeing you guys getting up to all your stunts, Postie Patrols, Cake Plows, etc. But you’re not presenting an image of a serious-minded company to the world at large. What you look like is a company that likes to spend money and party. I remember the first episode I ever saw dealt with your move to bigger offices, and at one point you were berating a painter for standing on a $700 chair. I’m sorry, Ted, but a start-up shouldn’t be spending its investor’s money on $700 chairs; it’s a waste and I know that others have pulled you up on this. They’ve also pulled you up on all the larking about that you do. I know, and so do most Posties I’m sure, that you’re just showing the bits where you guys let off steam and that most of the time you’re all very much nose to the grindstone making PPP work - but there’s been a lot of episodes about that, and not so many about the work that you’re doing. It’s the wrong balance for a start-up and doesn’t help the public perception of the company.
Neither does the name change. We’ll forget for the minute that Izea sounds either like Scandinavian furniture or really horrible toilet paper, but what we can’t forget is that it makes you look like you’re trying to distance yourselves from PayPerPost. It makes it look like you think all the detractors are right and PPP is something akin to prostitution that should only happen in dark alleyways. I can see your point about having an “umbrella” name to cover all the other things you do, but that just leads me on to my next point.
Fragmentation. Or, if I’m being kind, differentiation. You’re expanding into other areas - URL brief, Zookoda, RealRank, etc - which is understandable; every company wants to expand. But I think you’re taking your eye off the ball. What’s made you (in)famous is PPP, but it doesn’t seem to be receiving any of your attention at the moment. You’re branching out into other areas and it’s not clear where you’re trying to go.
Social Spark is apparently your next big thing. I don’t know too much about it, but it sounds like social networking for advertisers and bloggers. An interesting idea, but - on the face of it - not really a big advance on PPP Direct. And another name change. Does this now replace PPP entirely or does it run alongside? If it runs alongside, whither the future for PPP? From what I’ve seen about Social Spark, I think you’d have been much better adding the functionality to PPP, carrying on calling it PPP and really getting out there and selling it to advertisers. Oh, and Social Spark? If people abbreviate it like they do PayPerPost, that comes out to SS. Perhaps not the best thought-out name you could have come up with?
I know that your venture capitalists have been vocal in their support for you, but I would expect no less. I also know that some commenters were concerned that in your second round, you didn’t pull in any new investors. As a Postie, I’m concerned that you seem to be spending a lot of money, but I’m not convinced you’re bringing in all that much. At some point, your VC’s are going to want a return on their investment.
I’m sorry to sound so negative. I’m not trying to shoot you full of holes; I’m just highlighting some issues that have occurred to me as a fairly new Postie. I want PPP - or Social Spark, or Izea, or whatever the future branding of the company may turn out to be - to be a big success. I know that you guys have all worked hard to make it what it is today; I guess what I’m really saying is that the early vision seems to have become clouded - you’re no longer as focused as you were. I want PPP to become a force for good in the blogging world, bringing advertisers and bloggers together. After all, it means more money for me too. But I think you’re at a crossroads and you need to read the signs carefully before deciding which way to turn.
I wish you every success in 2008 and hope that Izea will achieve the vision that you have for it. I hope that you will take this letter in the constructive manner that it is meant, and if I’ve made any errors, or if there’s anything you want to respond to, I hope you’ll use the comments to do so.
Merry Christmas, and thanks for your time.
Wolfie.
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