2024-08-18
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Cailianshe News, August 18 (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng)With the rise of the self-media era, it has long been an industry practice for consumer electronics manufacturers to cooperate with personal bloggers - manufacturers need to widely expose their new products, and bloggers also need to get the equipment as soon as possible to grab the first wave of traffic.
There is also a blurred line:Do bloggers who get new products through companies need to "speak well" of the products in order to gain the favor of manufacturers and continue cooperation?
Google sparked an Internet outcry because it wrote this requirement down in black and white.
what happened?
At this week's "Made by Google" launch event, Google launched the Pixel 9 series of mobile phones.
However, in recent days, bloggers have released the review agreement of Team Pixel, Google's "influence program". It says bluntly,Bloggers participating in the program are "expected to use a Google Pixel device instead of any competing device," and "if another brand's device is found to be superior to the Pixel, we will be forced to terminate the partnership between the brand and the creator."
(Source: The Verge)
Simply translate this Chinese, it meansIf these bloggers want to get the device before it goes on sale, they have to make sure they don’t show a preference for competing phones.。
These terms quickly caused confusion on the Internet and affected many big Vs and technology media. In response, Google's public relations manager Kayla Geier immediately stated that Team Pixel is an independent program, separate from Google's news and creator review programs. The goal of this project is to put the product in the hands of Internet content creators, not news media or technology commentators.
Geier said:The new wording used in the Team Pixel form did seem a bit off and has now been removed.。
It is reported that the Team Pixel project is different from the cooperation with more vertically influential technology media and technology commentators, who can get the products before the new products are launched and produce evaluation content; while the participants of Team Pixel can only get the devices after the new products are released, before the public officially gets the products. This project is operated by the public relations company 1000heads, so this "pot" cannot be put on Google.
For some smaller bloggers, this kind of project is also an opportunity to enter the consumer electronics track.
Technology bloggers speak out
The problem is that as the incident was exposed, many fans began to examine the technology bloggers they trusted. After all, the Team Pixel project has been running for many years. Many influential technology channels have also participated in this project.
Adam Matlock, a blogger who opened the "Tech Odyssey" channel on Google's YouTube platform, posted a message immediately announcing his withdrawal from the Team Pixel project.
(Source: X)
Matlock said:I joined this project about 5 years ago because it is a good way to get new phones on time or in advance, which is very important for their industry. But before this conference, Google did not make such aggressive demands. In the past, it only needed to put labels such as "Team Pixel" and "Gift from Google" when releasing videos to comply with US legal requirements.
Matlock, who has 150,000 subscribers, said he had officially notified the relevant parties and withdrew from the project.
Kevin Nether, a blogger who runs the Tech Ninja channel, said that it was this clause that led him to quit the Team Pixel project. Nether said that as someone who reviews technology for a living, he needs to work with many brands. Being forced to use only one product is simply impossible for him and is not something he wants to participate in.
Nether also stated,Exclusivity in this type of collaboration is atypical; typically, when brands request exclusivity from creators or brand ambassadors, they provide compensation and more explicit, strict content production requirements and timelines.
Many bloggers who have participated in the Team Pixel project have also made it clear that Google will not provide compensation for the project.
Marques Brownlee, a top global technology blogger with 17 million followers on his channel and who just released a review of the Pixel phone this week, also spoke out at the first opportunity, repeatedly emphasizing that he is not a participant in this project and will never participate in such a project.
(Source: X)
At the same time, he also interpreted this incident from the perspective of an "outsider".
Marques Brownlee said,What Google is doing is what most technology companies want to do - get some kind of internet buzz when a new product is released, and know about it in advance.So Google cleverly came up with a solution, creating a new project and asking participants to promise in black and white that they would "give good reviews." For some bloggers, this is also an opportunity to establish cooperation with Google and get the device in advance.
He also said that the problem with this matter is that it will "muddy the waters of the market." After the release of a new product, a large number of review videos will appear, some of which participated in the "promised good reviews" project, and some did not. The audience will not delve into the differences between the various projects, but will suspect whether the bloggers who gave good reviews to Pixel phones are part of this "Team."
As an industry leader, Marques Brownlee advises bloggers who aspire to engage in objective technology reviews to never sign such contracts that would lose their independence. But he also reluctantly admitted,For many small bloggers and newcomers, this is their only way to connect with Google and get the device in advance.Marques Brownlee said helplessly that this was the most "brilliant" thing about Google's project.