Sorry this site requires JavaScript to be enabled in your browser. See the following guide on How to enable JavaScript in Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox and Safari. Alternatively you may be blocking JavaScript with an advert-related or developer plugin. Please check your browser plugins.

Sphinn Home » Affiliates
Evolve or Die? Amazon.com Chooses To Die
Affiliates News Source: http://outspokenmedia.com
Published: Jul 13, 2009 - 10:51 am
Story Found By: Sugarrae 950 Days ago
Category: Affiliates
The social Web has changed things and we can no longer force customers to come to us. We need to go where they are. To embrace that. To evolve with the times. And for the most part, businesses have done a fairly good job at adapting, even the most stubborn ones. Now it’s time for Amazon.com is to learn the same lesson. And they’ve chosen to learn it the hard way.
 Comments7 Comments  

Comments

Avatar
from Aussiewebmaster 950 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Affiliate marketing helped build Amazon - would be good spot for Branes and Noble or Borders to jump in... maybe a new off shore company could win here.

Avatar
from RyanU 949 Days ago #
Votes: 0

In case you haven’t noticed, twitter is rife with spam.  Letting affiliates spam twitter is a sure fire way to piss everyone off. +1 Amazon.

Avatar
from tamar 948 Days ago #
Votes: 2

Ryan, like Lisa says, affiliate links live on trust.  Your comment either assumes you haven’t read the entire article or you believe that all people follow spammers and that Twitter will become a mess of affiliate links if Amazon lets this slide.  (Too bad that people have been throwing out affiliate links on Twitter for a very long time.  I guess you hadn’t noticed.)Educated users of the service are not following spammers. And I think it’s wrong to believe that affiliates are [solely?] spamming Twitter.  Quite the contrary; I see a lot of legit members throw out affiliate links, and I am not bothered by such a tactic.  If I’m interested, I’ll click.  If I’m really interested, I’ll buy.  And the affiliate -- the person who told me to look into that product -- deserves to get credit for that.

Avatar
from RyanU 947 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Hi Tamar,  I certainly did RTFA and of course I’ve noticed affiliate links - im a very successful aff marketer and not retarded last I checked.  Twitter already IS a mess of affiliate links.  Do you use twitter? /snark I know you do, I think I follow you :).  Its not hard to write a bot that entices a significant number of legit users to follow back.  I think if you look at just how many tweets are coming from the api you will see how scripters like myself ARE in fact ruining the user experience for new users who don’t know better.  I wouldn’t be surprised if >50% of all tweets were scripted.  As an aside - IANAL but isn’t there a possibility Amazon could be held liable for the actions of its affiliates on a third party site’s infrastructure?  Hope you have a great friday - Ryan

Avatar
from CraigPayne 944 Days ago #
Votes: 0

This is a good move by Amazon. The sooner all others follow suit the better. Twitter is already too full of affiliate spam, so any move like this is a step in the right direction.

Avatar
from MiguelGomez 941 Days ago #
Votes: 0

There are good and legitimate points on both side of this argument.  But I think the other side of this that the article points out is that to just simply ignore social media as a medium to promote their services would be folly.  Amazon needs to figure out a way to incorporate this medium, even if that means denial of affiliate links on twitter and such.

Avatar
from CRusso 933 Days ago #
Votes: 0

It does make sense that Amazon would run the risk of creating a wave of Twitter spam links, but at the same time not allowing affiliates to utilize these channels is a truly massive oversight. This is definitely something Twitter should look into when they determine how to monetize the service.

Upcoming Conferences

Search Marketing ExpoSearch Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.


SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

Latest News From Marketing Land
Upcoming Webcasts

Search Marketing Now Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:


Latest News From Search Engine Land