If the flackjacket fits, wear it out......

So...six months after the last Flackstorm, another one erupts as A-List bloggers pimp product for filthy lucre without telling anyone...

Was quite disappointed that Om Malik and Paul Kedrosky got seduced by it, hopefully it remains a one night stand....

Fred Wilson, who last week accused all us Web 1.0 old farts of not getting the "NewNet", sees nothing wrong with it....

...could it be that's because the old farts "get" a few other things, like the longer term importance of integrity ?

Or is it just that old Green (sorry, blue) monster of jealousy 'cos no-ones's giving us any money?

Surely not

(Well, not for $559 - the alleged payola - anyway)

Apparently with this ...er....campaign we are witnessing the joyous birth of Conversational Marketing...

Welcome to the birth of conversational marketing.

It’s making people like you and me, who came from the world of traditional newspapers, have to learn about three-way conversations. We have already witnessed the evolution of the two-way conversation among authors and readers that is replacing old-fashioned one-way journalism. Even our old employers (yours at the Financial Times, mine at The New York Times) are now actively bringing their readers into two-way conversations.

So the next step, naturally, is for marketers to want to join the conversation. It can be done in ethical, responsible ways, and FM’s authors are among the first to figure out how to do it.

Re figuring out how to do it...the only newborn kid on the block here seems to be the above author - apart from speaking to Edelman, a bit of historical research would not go amiss - the Acer Ferrari lesson of 6 months ago was...Disclose...but not everyone seems to like that part of The Conversation

Its just another example of Ecclesiastes Law.....

Postscript....in a follow up article there is a poll, asking "Should bloggers adhere to a strict line between advertising and editorial?". When I took it the results were:

Yes, it's vital 77.8%
No, it's a spurious distinction 14.3%
The gray area is where the action is 7.9%