(Updates below: Responses from several FM authors)
ValleyWag today suggests that one of FM’s conversational marketing campaigns is hurting the editorial integrity of our authors. It says that Microsoft paid them to write, which is simply not true. They were invited to join a conversation with readers about Microsoft’s new theme, and they did so, but they didn’t write about it on their blogs. The only money they get from Microsoft is from ads running on their sites, for which they’re paid by the page view.
But it’s a great chance to stop and talk about the rapid evolution of conversational marketing, the most important thing happening in our industry. So we offered this comment to Nick Denton, who wrote the ValleyWag item: