Izea starts blogger advisory board for development, outreach
Izea will try to improve its standing in the community and look more ethical.
Izea, a social media marketing company that started PayPerPost and SocialSpark, announced on Monday that it has established a blogger advisory board to help it expand its presence online.
"The board includes leading bloggers in social media, community development, marketing, advertising, and affiliate programs," Izea CEO Ted Murphy wrote in a blog post on the company's site. "The advisers will be working together with our management team to guide the company in product development, outreach, and further enhancement of our code of ethics."
Ethics is a common theme when Izea is discussed. The company's PayPerPost property connects advertisers to bloggers, who get paid for writing reviews of an advertiser's Web site, product, or service. Similar to PayPerPost, Izea's SocialSpark allows advertisers to pay bloggers for a sponsored post on their sites or ads on their blogs based on a set rate determined by SocialSpark. Both services have come under fire for toeing the line between ethical behavior and "pollution of the blogosphere" by major bloggers. But the company's decision to form an advisory board suggests it may be trying to improve its standing in the community.
Izea's blogger advisory board will be meeting in Orlando, Fla., on December 6 to discuss the company's future.