John Battelle today started experimenting with Amazon ads in his RSS feed. John writes...
It won't be long, I predict, before Feedburner and services like it start rolling Overture-like ads into feeds. Then, perhaps, we can change this lame "headlines and summaries only" RSS approach taken by most of the mainstream publishers.
He's right. RSS ads will soon become standard. And this is definitely a good thing. RSS ads will help everyone who is serious about blogging monetize their efforts. However, as bloggers begin populating their feeds with ads, the game will change. There is a potential dark side here as well.
The Chinese Wall - e.g. the line that usually exists between "editorial" and advertising - will blur even further. Some bloggers are adamant they will stick to their ethics. But I can easily see how there might be others who will begin to favor writing more about certain topics than others to ensure that their feeds carry high performing ads. That's something you generally would not see in the world of professional journalism. Hopefully a few bad amateurs won't spoil it for the rest of us.
