confoozled.com - sponsored spark

sponsored spark	Fri 05/09/2008 8:04 PM
How would you feel if you were sent an invitation to a party, but when you tried to attend you were turned away at the door, told you didn't meet the qualifications to be there? That's what happened to me a few weeks ago when I received an invitation to beta test SocialSpark, the latest project from IZEA, the company behind PayPerPost. I never asked or applied for an invitation to SocialSpark. I'd heard it mentioned, but I didn't even know what it was until the day I got that e-mail. Someone at IZEA had sought me out and sent me an invitation, unsolicited. Yet, when I signed up, created my profile, and submitted my blog, I was told it could not be approved because I did not have twenty posts that were less than ninety days old. While I knew that PayPerPost had this requirement for approving new blogs, nowhere in the invitation that they sent me did it say that this same requirement also applied to SocialSpark. Nonetheless, I only had sixteen recent posts, and apparently that meant that I was a failure as a blogger. So, if you're wondering why I've been so talkative lately, it was because I was working to get that number of recent, original, non-sponsored posts up to twenty. Every time I added a few entries, a few more fell off the other end of that ninety-day mark. I finally did qualify, though, and am now figuring out what it's all about. SocialSpark basically takes the paid blogging concept of PayPerPost, improves upon it, and adds in a dash of social networking. Unlike PayPerPost, advertisers offering sponsored post opportunities on SocialSpark may not require that the tone of the post be positive, and they may not prohibit in-post disclosure. All paid blog posts from the SocialSpark network are real, honest opinions, good or bad, and they are all identified as sponsored entries. I love the new rules, but so far I'm less than impressed with the site. Most paid post opportunities have a long wait before they become available to you, and when you do receive an e-mail telling you that a slot has opened up and you have twelve hours to complete the opportunity, there is no link back to the opportunity page. I've applied for several opportunities, and so far have only had one open up - but I could not find the opportunity again in the system to see the requirements and submit my post. SocialSpark also has another type of opportunity known as a blog sponsorship. Instead of writing a paid post you accept a sponsorship for a given number of days. You are paid a certain amount for every day that the sponsorship remains on your blog. But, these are large, obnoxious ads that layer on top of your blog, forcing your visitor to either click the close button or wait for the ad to time out. Then, it places a big ugly frame at the bottom of the window. I would absolutely never allow this type of ad on confoozled.com. So, it remains to be seen whether I will be able to make any money at all through SocialSpark. The beta testing is over now, and the site is open to the public, so if you haven't already, go sign up and let me know if you fare any better! (This post sponsored by SocialSpark through PayPerPost.) << prev • home • next >>
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2 comments/trackbacks
comment: from Ellen I too have been disappointed in Social Spark. I signed up, once invited. I was accepted, I've reserved LOTS of opportunities and only received one email stating that it was available for me. But unfortunately when I checked it it was very early in the morning and I was on my way out the door to work. I couldn't do it. Since then I reserve more opps and have had NONE since then. Also, when you reserve (put you name on the list) the price slowly decreases. The first one I reserved was paying $25.00. When it got to me it was only paying $5.00 for 200 words. But strangely two of my other blogging buddies gets opps from them all the time and writes several a week from them. So I just don't understand it. Oh well.... Sat 05/10/2008 9:00 PM comment: from Rae I signed up for SocialSpark this past week, but I doubt that I'll really use it. I wasn't impressed. Then again, I haven't really worked for PayPerPost in quite awhile either. I'm much happier with PU2B (payu2blog). Sun 05/11/2008 10:08 AM
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My name is Carly, aka HelloKit. I grew up in Oregon, and now live in Rhode Island. I'm queen of IT and administrative assistant for an electrical contractor, but blogging and web design are my true passions.
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