{"id":7271,"date":"2017-12-06T14:39:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T14:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/?p=7271"},"modified":"2018-01-08T18:51:40","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T18:51:40","slug":"linked-how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2017\/12\/06\/linked-how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Linked: &#8220;How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Company&#8230;&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:2369,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/theoutline.com\\\/post\\\/2563\\\/how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company-and-huffpost-stories&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251002221727\\\/https:\\\/\\\/theoutline.com\\\/post\\\/2563\\\/how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company-and-huffpost-stories&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-03 23:48:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-16 17:09:18&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-04 22:48:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-04 22:48:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:206},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theoutline.com\/post\/2563\/how-brands-secretly-buy-their-way-into-forbes-fast-company-and-huffpost-stories\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">via Outline:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The Huffington Post writer also described specific brands he\u2019d written about on behalf of one of the agencies, which ranged from a popular ride-hailing app, to a publicly-traded site for booking flights and hotels, to a large American cell phone service provider.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis is a classic example of payola,\u201d he said of the brand mentions, invoking a term that\u2019s been used to describe radio DJs who accept payments from record companies in order to play certain artists on the air.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Sometimes, this writer said, the agency provides him with a pre-written article, complete with brand mentions, which he then publishes under his byline as though he wrote it himself. Other times, he uses alternate bylines on the same publications \u2014 including the Huffington Post \u2014 to push out even more content.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I receive an email every week from random gmail accounts asking me to link to certain products for $20-$50. I\u2019ve never done it but they\u2019re targeting even the tiny bloggers like me.<\/p>\n<p>Update: Thought I\u2019d throw this one out there I just received:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Hello Adam,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>First, I wanted to say Great Job on your post &#8211; \u00a0https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/culinary-soylent-an-introduction\/.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I can tell that you did spend a lot of effort on creating this content.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019m actually the main editor over at Balance Me Beautiful (http:\/\/www.balancemebeautiful.com\/)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>So your post was of particular interest to me as we\u2019ve just recently released an epic blog post on 8 Surprising Vitamin E Oil Benefits for Face and Skin.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>While reading your article, I noticed you were linking to a post from en.wikipedia.org on the same topic as my post. Their post is also a great resource, though I would says mine is even more comprehensive and up to date. Plus, I\u2019ve done my research thoroughly \u2013 lots of trusted sources in there.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Bottom line, I think a link to my article would make a great addition to your post.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>If you agree, and are happy to add the link, I\u2019d be glad to share your post on our social media channels.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This is my article: http:\/\/www.balancemebeautiful.com\/vitamin-e-oil-benefits-face-skin\/<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Let me know if you like the idea?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Lily<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Editor at Balance Me Beautiful<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>lilygreene@balancemebeautifulbody.com<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"via Outline: The Huffington Post writer also described specific brands he\u2019d written about on behalf of one of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2018-01-08T18:51:49Z","apple_news_api_id":"32b7a7e3-5a3c-4b45-9887-f533b27167fa","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2018-01-08T18:51:51Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AMren41o8S0WYh_UzsnFn-g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/a6dbab72-c794-3987-8514-c419907b32a3"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-linked","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-1Th","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2128,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2014\/02\/27\/linked-some-stuff-ive-been-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Linked: Some stuff I&#8217;ve been reading","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Most of these I bookmark via Instapaper to use in blog posts but then I got busy and decided not to write a blog post around each of these and just link to them instead. I think they\u2019re worth sharing with you all. Thanks. High Functioning: Craft Beer and Alcohol\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beer News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beer News","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/beer\/beer-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3324,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/12\/07\/my-issue-with-mashable-huffington-post-business-insider-and-every-other-up-modern-news-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":1},"title":"\u2605 My Issue with Mashable, Huffington Post, Business Insider and every other up modern news site","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Each day, I go out of my way to find the original source of a news article. As soon as I hit a page that I know doesn't employ reporters and isn't known to actually report original news or is a site that simple writes blurbs about every hot topic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rants&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5805,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2016\/06\/23\/linked-goodnight-and-good-luck\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":2},"title":"Linked: &#8220;Goodnight, and good luck&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"via Al Jazeera America: For Al Jazeera America online, no human tragedy could be reduced to a statistic or dismissed as the collateral damage of another\u2019s self-defense or an inevitable consequence of geography, politics, class, race, sect or ethnicity. Poverty, violence and environmental degradation are not immutable forces of nature;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3524,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/02\/03\/mandy-jenkins-leaves-young-persons-job-of-social-media-editor\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Mandy Jenkins leaves \u2018young person\u2019s job\u2019 of social media editor","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"via Poynter: After guiding Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and more since 2008 at the Cincinnati Enquirer, TBD (where we worked together) and The Huffington Post, Mandy Jenkins is moving on. Congrats and that's impressive. Why move on? Mandy Jenkins: It\u2019s just a time to move on. I\u2019ve been doing this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rants&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4601,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/04\/24\/linked-is-google-making-the-web-stupid\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":4},"title":"Linked: &#8220;Is Google making the web stupid?&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"via Seth Godin: If you\u2019re a content provider, the shift to mobile, and to social and the shift in Google\u2019s priorities mean that it\u2019s worth a very hard look at how you\u2019ll monetize and the value of permission (i.e. the subscribers to this blog are its backbone). And if you\u2019re\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Linked&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Linked","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/linked\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2593,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/01\/13\/linked-2014-the-year-in-vt-beer\/","url_meta":{"origin":7271,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 Linked: &#8220;2014 \u2013 The Year in VT Beer&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"via VTBeer:\u00a0 11 breweries opened\u00a0in 2014. As of the end of 2014, we have 40 breweries excluding brands and contract-only brewers. 3 breweries closed\u00a0in 2014. 1 brand purchased\u00a0from a closed brewery in 2014. 2 new Vermont-based client breweries\u00a0in 2014. As of the end of 2014, we have 5 contract-only brewing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beer News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beer News","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/beer\/beer-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}