>but doesn't most of what you're describing already occur _as well_?
I believe it would happen on a far greater scale, because it would be the only way to get the message across and competition from independent ad funded publishers would cease to exist.
Today, it's more difficult for a product company to justify the expense of running their own large scale publishing and influencing operation because it would have to outcompete advertising in terms of effectiveness.
People will always try to get other people's attention for their own gain. Trying to stop this is a quixotic endavour. I think we should regulate to limit the negative impact of this social constant, not try to stop it altogether.
>Could we have similar transparency in content?
Yes, I do think we could. But I also think that people would still prefer high quality if biased company bloggers to paying for expensive subscriptions. Don't forget that most subscription based publications show adverts to their subscribers as well. Without advertising, subscription prices would rise steeply.
> People will always try to get other people's attention for their own gain. Trying to stop this is a quixotic endavour. I think we should regulate to limit the negative impact of this social constant, not try to stop it altogether.
I'm not necessarily advocating either to stop it, or to limit the impacts - just to make it visible. Once the power/influence structures (and the associated leverage they use) are evident, the manipulative ones will be abandoned and the authentic ones will succeed.
I believe it would happen on a far greater scale, because it would be the only way to get the message across and competition from independent ad funded publishers would cease to exist.
Today, it's more difficult for a product company to justify the expense of running their own large scale publishing and influencing operation because it would have to outcompete advertising in terms of effectiveness.
People will always try to get other people's attention for their own gain. Trying to stop this is a quixotic endavour. I think we should regulate to limit the negative impact of this social constant, not try to stop it altogether.
>Could we have similar transparency in content?
Yes, I do think we could. But I also think that people would still prefer high quality if biased company bloggers to paying for expensive subscriptions. Don't forget that most subscription based publications show adverts to their subscribers as well. Without advertising, subscription prices would rise steeply.