Miguel Bustillo and Ann Zimmerman start a great discussion on paid blogging in their recent WSJ article.

There is no doubt the blogosphere is abuzz, and more and more brands are looking to bloggers to help them ’spread the word’.

It is almost humorous that advertisers expect their not to be a negative backlash as a result of consumers running across what they believe to be an authentic review of a product or company, only to find out the person was paid to write it…

This issue is simple: Social media is about authenticity. Without that it dies.

Have Value, Will Travel

If people don’t naturally WANT to talk up the merits of a product or service, advertisers need to stick to conventional ad tactics, or take a hard look at their product.

Social Media, is great for some people, but really, really bad news for some.

Hype and fluff are not tolerated in this new social-democratic society.

Yovia’s Earn & Learn Program

Yovia teaches bloggers to only talk about what they love. If their content is valuable, they will have a valuable blog. Part of their training is subsidized by brands who are first tested by Yovia. As a way to maintain value and authenticity, Yovia requires sponsors to first run beta test, which assigns a Social Velocity Score to each potential sponsor.

KylePC is a Yovia blog run by a computer-repair technician and a graduate of Yovia’s Earn & Learn program. “Kyle” used the program to create and promote his blog, which specializes in giving frustrated Windows users some free advice.

“I want them to call me, but only after they’ve researched the topic a bit on my blog”, says Kyle.

Part of what Yovia does is teach people how to really build up an authentic, useful network online. Yovia also shares a percentage of the revenue advertisers pay to have access to this uber-targeted widget network, which extends across every major social network.

Thrive on Hype, Will Die

Advice to marketers: Social Media Marketing is a powerful and effective tool, but only if you are telling the truth, and absolutely only if what you have has real value.

Otherwise, we may just see you on the ‘other side’, after you’ve been chewed up and spit out by the real people who make up the Web 3.0.