flickrvertising

I've been accused of inventing a new form of advertising. God, you wouldn't want that on your tombstone would you? (Even if the accuser seems to think it's a good thing.)

What everyone seems to have missed is that the reason those books are up there is that I'm offering to lend them to people, for nothing. The Amazon link is really there as an extra service - more info etc. (Though obviously if someone wants to buy the book then I'm happy to make a little money through my affiliate number.) I guess this is a 'if you have a hammer everything looks like a nail' problem. If you're an advertising person, everything looks like an opportunity to do advertising. To me it doesn't look like advertising, it looks like an extra link to useful info. But even just typing that just makes me feel like some kind of evil spammer.

Jeez, I'll happily take everything down if it's going to result in the growth of some sort of nasty flickrspam. I hope that doesn't happen, and I hope it's not my fault.

Comments

[Mr. P.H. Colman]

I blame the parents.

[ozgur alaz]

Hi Russell
I appreciate tour initiative on flickr. I know, your real intention. And it is also very inspiring. This notes are related, not spam and value for reader.

I am admirer of you, and to know (or able to rent) what book you read is completely value. And adding possibility to buy the books you read is great. I believe this model's huge opportunities.

[Ben]

People are taking it all a teeny weeny bit too seriously, aren't they?

Or maybe it's Flickr 2.0.

Or something.

[fernanda]

I agree with the comments above.
There are 2 different things:
It is true and obvious that the formats of product placement and spams are growing amazingly to every media or entertaining place existent.
And it is clear that your intention is good and your notes on the books are helpful for anyone interested in the books. So they are clearly not spams.

[Ju Again]

that´s awful...
i mean, i think you did it with the best intention possible. and i didn´t feel "bad" when i clicked on photos/links on your blog and went to amazon.com....(for me it meant more information).
but maybe (just maybe) you should remove amazon.com links from your blog. eventhough you´re not guilty...

[ivv]

"To me it doesn't look like advertising, it looks like an extra link to useful info."

Now, if all advertising looked like an extra link to useful info, we'd live in a much better place. The flickr idea is great, though.

[Planner in training]

I am always looking for good book recommendations from friends, peers and professionals in the industry. I really appreciated you listing the books.

Now what I liked even more was the ability to add the books to my wish-list at Amazon right away, minimizing the chance that I would forget.

I Don't really see it as a new method of advertising because it is basically product placement under cover.

[Iain Tait]

Well they've managed to see through your evil capitalist plot! I think this could be the beginning of the end...

What next?

Eeek. You'll be hung drawn and quartered for your shamless RussellDaviesVertising on your blog ;)

Having said that... I'm quite interested in the notion of FlickrVertising (definitely needs a new name though). If one was a good photographer one could construct really beautiful images packed full of branded products (a bit like product shoots in glossy mags). Then using the notes feature in Flickr create afilliate links through to places where people can buy stuff and you'd get kickback. Basically using Flickr as a shop window for an afilliate store.

It's not going to make you a millionairre, but it would be an interesting experiment...

[maria eugenia]

book recommendations = excellent
amazon link = good
affiliate number = bad (for christ sake...)
flickrvertising = very bad
...and a very old idea, which is even worse.
(what´s the brilliant idea behind product image/click/buy the product or get to know the product better????)