OK, I admit it, I’m signed up with PayPerPost. I would never blog about a topic just to get a few bucks, but if I find the topic interesting enough to post about, I have no problem with a company tossing me a few bucks for the extra attention. If you haven’t read the Forrester report on Sponsored Conversations, you should.
Now as it turns out, I haven’t actually run any PayPerPost posts yet – there hasn’t been an opportunity for any of my blogs that I thought was a good match. But this morning I had an opportunity to post about a new Music Videos site, which also promises lyrics on demand. Being the karaoke junkie that I am, this seemed right up my alley, so I thought, “Hey,this could actually be a fit.” Only a couple of bucks, but all they wanted was a link.
So I went to check out the site, MuVids.com. The site looks great – all the hit songs:
So I thought, “Cool – sure, I’ll write a quick blog about this.”
And then…BAM!
Huh?
I refreshed the screen just to be sure I hadn’t accidentally clicked on an ad or something. Nope. Sure enough, this thing pops up after a few seconds.
OK, a bit user-hostile, but the content is worth it to me to do this…once. Or even once per visit. Fine.
And then…BAM!
WTF??? You gotta be kidding me! You want my cell phone number to view a web site???
Now maybe it’s all on the up-and-up. I could NOT find any fine print anywhere saying that they were going to automatically start charging you a subscription for ringtones, wallpaper, etc., like they do with those IQ and personality quizzes:
That said, though, given how prevalent those things are, and apparently how easy it is to rip people off once you give them your mobile phone number, there’s no way in hell I’m giving out my cell phone number to watch music videos, even with lyrics, or anything else for that matter. I’m not accusing MuVids of dishonesty, just stupidity.
Maybe this is a new site, and maybe they’ll get their head out of their ass and realize that they’re driving hordes of people away with this user-hostile interface, and if so, maybe I’ll go back and visit it, and maybe even post an update about it (for free).
In the meantime, I won’t be back. And this will be a test of just how transparent PayPerPost really is. The requirements for the post are:
Related content with a link to www.muvids.com with anchortext "Music Videos".
I did that. We’ll see if they pay me. 🙂
UPDATE: Yup, they did.
Very cool ! Thanks for sharing. Now I’m following you..
Good post Scott. The idea of the site seems pretty cool actually but I hate any sites where I have to give out too much information to enter their ‘exclusive’ or ‘member VIP’ areas let alone the whole site, so that would have annoyed me greatly. Good to see they paid out though, just for a link.
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