Back in March, I joined SocialSpark, the new pay-bloggers-for-posts product from Izea.

I first learned about SocialSpark when I went to Postiecon last November. At the time Izea’s flagship product was PayPerPost. What I took away from the unveiling was SocialSpark was going to turn paid blogging on its side in three areas:

1. More interaction between bloggers and advertisers (that would be the social part)
2. Disclosure that each opportunity taken was paid
3. All required links would be “no-follow” (a big deal if you understand Google and search engine stuff, which I don’t)

When I created my profile in March, SocialSpark was still in Alpha. There was mainly a lot of social going on- adding friends and checking out profiles. Izea set up a few opportunities, full of bugs, but they worked them out and eventually I was able to take an opp. It was easy- I clicked a button, wrote my post, and filled out their required fields to submit the opportunity.

Then Izea turned on some of the “features.” And I started to wonder if I liked having paid blogging be turned on its side.

1. Dynamic Pricing. This is something I really don’t understand. According to the really long blog posts on the Izea blog, advertisers can create opportunities and indicate the highest and lowest price they will pay for a blog post. When the opportunity generates interest, the price fluctuates based on demand. The more bloggers interested in the opportunity, the more the price drops. Bloggers really don’t get paid what they are worth in that way. I have requested slots for opportunities when they were listed at over $27. But by the time I got my reservation created email, I was told I would only be paid $5.50. I didn’t do the opportunity. My time is worth more than $5.50.

I really don’t like this fluctuation. I also do not like taking an opportunity at 8ish dollars and then seeing it later climb it over $16. (Unless I can take the opportunity again, which isn’t allowed.)

2. Reserving an opportunity. When you see an opportunity you are interested in, you click on the “request slot” button. Your profile is added to the queue and you wait for a reservation to actually be created. And wait. And wait.

Again, depending on the interest, you can wait for several days. And when/ if (you aren’t always guaranteed a slot) you get your slot, the amount you will be paid might be less than what it was when you requested the slot.

I’m used to deciding what time to blog. When I decide to do a paid post, I usually want to do it as soon as possible. With Izea’s PayPerPost system, when I click on “take opportunity” I have six hours to complete the opp. I don’t click on the take button unless I know I can complete the opp in six hours.

Waiting for an opportunity isn’t how I really like to blog. At least, I haven’t been liking it lately. Especially since Izea sends out “Reservation created” emails around midnight (Eastern time) which leads me to the next “feature” I’m not happy with…

3. Reservation created, twelve hours is really five. If Izea sends me an email at 12:01 a.m. telling me I have twelve hours to complete an opportunity, when do you think I actually see that email? Usually around 7:30 or 8 a.m. And do you think I will be able to complete it by noon? Probably. But not always.

And if the opportunity is a video assignment and I have company coming at 11, but the house is not clean, what do you think I am going to spend my time doing? A video? Nope. It comes back to I need to blog on my time. If I had a longer reservation window, I would be thrilled.

But I can’t be all bent out of shape about this reservation system since it does help me in another way. PayPerPost allows me to click on “take opportunity” and start blogging right away. I have to keep their window open on my browser while I blog. SocialSpark does not require I keep their window open. If I am working on a PPP opp and my internet goes down (like last night), I lose the opp. If I am working on a SocialSpark opp and my internet goes down, I don’t lose the reservation. (I do have to hope my internet comes back before my reservation window closes, but that isn’t PPP or SocialSpark’s fault.) Apparently I have been doing this wrong and several people have just corrected me. Fortunately I haven’t lost a lot of opportunities in this way.

Here is a real life example that covers all three of these issues:

Last week I requested a slot for an opportunity called “I signed up for SocialSpark!” It was listed at over $27. I received the email yesterday morning that my reservation had been created. The price I was going to be paid for the opportunity was $5.50. The email was sent at 6 a.m. so I had until 6 p.m. to complete the assignment. This would be difficult to do, because I had to clean my house for company at 11. When the company left it was after 1 and I had things to do with Fuller and had to leave the house later. When 6 p.m. came and went, I was out of the house, away from the computer. And I wasn’t sorry about losing out on $5.50.

When I came home, I was able to be on the computer. I checked PPP and guess what? There was this opportunity to write about SocialSpark. It was for $9. So I clicked “take opportunity.” I had six hours to complete it, and I knew I would be able to. I was interrupted several times, but I was almost done with this post. And then my internet went down. I saved my writing in Word and went to bed. This no longer matters, since I was doing it wrong.

This morning, I logged into PPP and there was the opportunity again! So I took it and used my writing from last night as a starting point. When I complete this post, I know I will be paid $9 for writing it (in 30 days) because that is what the system said when I took the opportunity. (I was also giggling because this is exactly the post I would have written if I had had the time to complete the opportunity on SocialSpark that would have paid me $5.50.)

I didn’t take it hoping the price would stay at $9, I didn’t have to wait for an email telling me to start writing, and I was able to take it at a time I knew I could complete it.

One of the things I like about Izea is they really listen to everybody. I know I am not the only blogger who has a problem with these “features” and I expect changes to be made to make people happier. I hope too that Advertisers are educated on paying bloggers what they are worth, and creating opportunities that will really meet their needs. And I hope some good relationships between bloggers and advertisers will be forged in the social arena of SocialSpark.

Remember, it is still in Beta. I am sure there are still some changes to be made. And I am sure there will be opportunities I request a slot for and I don’t take because the price fell below what I am willing to take.

Technorati Tags: SocialSpark, Izea