New money blog and new era for blogging in SA?

Vincent Maher has just launched a new blog called “Money Talks“. It is sponsored by Virgin Money and is about, well, money. The point of the blog is to look at money and how we relate to it. Virgin Money has approached the right person for the job.

What is significant about this blog, aside from the fact that it is a new blog about something we all have an intimate relationship with, is that this is one of the first instances of a blogger being approached to be the voice of a large corporate in South Africa. It is a sign of the growing importance of blogging and bloggers themselves. It indicates that bloggers are being regarded as important extensions of a company’s marketing efforts and if they embrace blogging, both functionally and philosophically, then we are looking at something along the lines of Scoble and Microsoft (the difference there being that Microsoft wasn’t really sponsoring Scoble, aside from paying his salary).

While some people may regard this sort of arrangement as a little odd and even resist it, this is a great development for blogging in South Africa. There are arguably ethical issues about blogging for pay but these arguments must take into account the integrity of the blogger concerned. In addition, the proof will be in the voice that is expressed through this blog. So far, I am hooked and a subscriber!

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virgin money, vincent maher, money talks, money, blogger ethics, corporate sponsorship