Companies are clamoring to have their message heard— but at what cost?

As the worlds of social media and advertising continue to intertwine, many are revisiting the ongoing debate of sponsored posts and comments on blogs and social networking sites. While some say that companies paying people to share a corporate idea in settings usually reserved for public opinion is a matter of ethics, others note it’s just another way to pay the bills.

Here are some proposed points for each side of the argument of paying for posts:

FOR:
:: Add a tally in favor of the company shelling out the bucks to get the word out: It seems that together, paid and earned media are more powerful than either alone. [AdAge]

:: It’s not like blogs haven’t always been self-serving to begin with: Just like some people watch Fox primarily and others get their news exclusively from MSNBC, most blogs already appeal to a specific audience. Some argue that people who surf the blogosphere are just looking to reinforce an opinion they already have, therefore paid posts and comments aren’t really swaying anybody’s thinking one way or the other. If a person wanted an unbiased opinion of a product, they would have probably gone to a more reputable source. [NakedPR]

AGAINST:
:: You know, that whole ethics thing: For the (few) out there who believe that blogging or status updates equals journalism, the idea that paying these “citizen journalists” to dish out someone else’s opinions quite obviously puts a ruffle in some critics’ feathers. [Twistimage]

:: Customers getting the short end of the deal may have bigger consequences: Critical readers are less likely to trust a sponsored post than one written by your average Joe. Like with anyone, when a customer realizes she has been duped by false (or, at least, misleading) advertising, she’s more reluctant to trust anything similar in the future. Some critics go as far to say that sponsored posts devalue the entire social media world. [Toughsledding]

What do you think about it? Leave a comment and let us know.

*Image obtained from ConcurringOpinions.

—Melinda Hanna is an intern with Wicked PR in Atlanta. She recently graduated from The University of Tennessee with a degree in journalism and electronic media. Follow her on Twitter @WickedMel7.