Is SocialSpark a Good Thing?

I've been reading everything I can on the new social spark. What I've read is not very heartening. I've seen the banners in use - it makes the blog look like it is owned by SocialSpark... not me. I am secondary in the marketing process.

There are reasons to go with SocialSpark.com - and those against.

The no-follow links are good. This may look great to the amateur bloggers, but all of us pros know that Google is going to find some code in the Socialspark code to tag it. I remember when we were all told to stick the 'disclosure badges' on our blogs. Within weeks my PR4 blogs were PR0 - but only on the Paid Post blogs that had the badge.

There is an audit trail that will let people follow links to see if the blogger was forced to use certain links.

I like PayPerPost as it is. I am not 100% sure I want to change, and hope the issue will not be forced. For one, it seriously hinders the other blogging Ad companies. Many of them are unhappy with the new banners and program. They don't mind the competition they do mind having all the blogs look like they belong to SocialSpark.com

There is a lot of hype over the system. But it won't work without the help of the big search engines, no matter what IZEA is saying. Even now, websites are being hit with a -2 if they 'appear' to sell links.

This is unfair. I have a major website that doesn't sell links, but it has been hit with a -1 from the Google toolbar's rank, because of the number of links. I've triggered a red flag, so I get the penalty.

I don't see that I sell page rank. The Paid ads on my page buy the space, like an ad in a newspaper. There is certainly no value to having a post on my blog with a page rank of PR0 for the posts page. And, I don't sell links on the home page of my PR4 and higher blogs.

I review for pay. But I reject a lot of paid posts. I reject at least 50% from ReviewMe, and 80% from sponsored reviews. I also reject at least 20 - 40% from PPP depending on the week and the opportunities.

I don't want the first thing visitors to see when they come to my blog is an invitation to advertise on my blogs. Most of my visitors are not businesses. They are people who come to my sites looking for information.

I've just started reviewing. Some of the pro Bloggers have been given access to the program that started to be released in January. I'll keep you posted with what I learn.