Thursday 13 September 2007

Whores

We are all whores now.

Like millions of other bloggers, I have a dream. That dream is to leave my job and live life. When I have lived enough life each day, I want to sit down at the computer (naturally in a large house near the beach - any beach, who cares, as long as it's warm and service-oriented?) and write about it. The things I write about will be read by a worldwide community who are perched on the edges of their seats waiting for my next pronouncement.

Many of them will have alerts set up so that they receive a notification each time I deign to submit something to the web.
There would be no question of any paranoia - that I was not on the curve - because I would be the curve. But, even while I was living my funky life, I would need to record it somehow - take pictures, tweet, receive ironic backslaps and good-natured digs from my fellow interneterati. I would lounge around making wry comments about baristas, checking out my feedburn via RSS and beta trialling the latest UGC.

There is of course a small stumbling block. Money.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Web 2.0 had somehow made the world a more egalitarian place. I mean, politicians blog, and - so they say - listen to the opinions of at least some bloggers. Wikipedia, creative commons, and all the rest of it would make you think that we are on the verge of some kind of revolution. As if you would believe a word of it, right?


I have even noticed a change in myself, in the way I am positioning myself in regard to my blog entries. I was performing the usual duty of skimming through Blog Directory the other day and I found this rather pathetic little piece in one of the random blogs I checked (you have to look at one or two before you can add your own) about Pay Per Post. I have seen this in my own AdSense window a few times, but I am a good boy and would not dream of breaking my covenant with the great Google by clicking on any of the ads in my own blog. No, really. So, after reading the post, which left me feeling rather depressed ("I have found this great new venture called Pay per Post, which I think is really exciting. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone...") I visited the Pay per Post site. After the usual puff, there was a contract in there, which to my admittedly inexperienced eye, did seem to be rather binding on the client. It would have been so easy just to have hit the 'I Accept' button and then be tied to writing copy for a few measly bucks a month. Instead, I closed the window and shuddered.

So, I have been thinking for some time about posting an entry relating to the West Green Road, which has long been one of my favourite places in London. It is a vibrant and exotic street, especially on a Saturday afternoon, and is home to many different African food shops, barbers, Turkish bakeries and an atmosphere that really buzzes. It is also, I think, under-represented on the intar-tubes. I wanted to do a photo blog - perhaps over more than one post - to bring the place to life. Then I read the guide on how to make money and everything changed. I thought I would approach the shopkeepers and tell them what I was doing. I could showcase their stores for them - give them a presence on the net - if they in return offered me some sponsorship.

Now is that such a bad idea?

18 comments:

English Marie said...

Money... What's the matter with money? Why don't you sell worn Lycra shorts?

Myeral said...

Now that's a good idea...

English Marie said...

i'll be your manager

Myeral said...

You can negotiate with Mr Patel for a few cans of Special and half an ounce of Golden Virginia on tick

Unknown said...

I'd speak to the guys who are part of this vibrant street. Make your product your resource. Maybe if they have the chance to....speak to camera,say, about their experiences, they might add to what you already love about the place. Inside information and all that. just an idea, like. x

Anonymous said...

Do you consider your blogging a form of journalism? Even in the most general way? If you do then I guess you're facing the old dilemma of your credibility being (potentially) compromised or at least influenced by your advertisers. In other words the next time you get a bad haircut from the West Green barbers will you be so keen to talk about it honestly if the same barber has just bunged you a drink? Mind, I'm money-grabbing whore so it wouldn't necessarily bother me, but it seems to be bothering you. Which would you rather have - the credibility or the money?

(waving) 'lo Miriam!

Myeral said...

How did you know about my haircut?

Anonymous said...

For some of us even a bad haircut is aspirational.

Myeral said...

Good heavens Wilde, how do you keep coming up with them?

Anonymous said...

Just a desire for the last word bordering on the pathological... Boom-boom!

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Myeral said...

Just a point - tossed into this almost forgotten piece of history. I cannot believe that some sad fuck is advertising a product via the comments section of a (let's face it) rarely viewed blog, the relevant post on which was published nearly 3 years ago?

I'm just interested, that's all...

Anonymous said...
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Myeral said...

How terribly tedious. I have had to enable moderation on this blog now, even though the readership is hardly prolific.

Anonymous said...

how many time i do not do what i want to do but do what i dont want to do

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