PC Magazine July 2017

@dancosta
those same products in the real world. Setting
aside the feel-good, straight-up brand building, a
lot of products just don’t work they way they do in
commercials. Screens are Photoshopped in,
animations replace interfaces, and features are
invented. Vendors also push out an amazing
amount of content every day across an array of
channels. With some exceptions, most of it is
useless at best and at worst, deceptive.
PAYOLA
The FTC is doing its best to crack down on
bloggers who accept gifts, payments, and other
incentives to write about products, but most
payola goes unnoticed. Mediakix recently found
that 93 percent of the top celebrity Instagrammers
did not even disclose their sponsored links.
Interestingly, there are actually fewer restrictions
on professional journalists. But PCMag writers
don’t get paid by vendors, they don’t keep products
they test, and they can’t even own individual tech
stocks (mutual funds are OK).
FANBOYS
Passion is a good thing, and we welcome
technology enthusiasts. That said, slamming the
iPhone because you’re an Android fanboy makes
no sense. The same goes for every platform out
there. There is good traffic to be had stoking these
flame wars and spreading random incendiary
stories, but it ultimately doesn’t help users make
buying decisions and get more from technology.
Let’s argue about tech, but let’s use facts.
HACK JOURNALISM
Journalists don’t get a pass here, either. Plenty of
professional writers publish before checking their
facts or even pretending to offer facts. There’s a