An interesting flame war is developing between BlogAds founder Henry Copeland and MSN Spaces users over the recent news that Volvo was to be the first major advertiser on Microsofts foray into big time blogging.
Copeland writes that Volvo is getting a raw deal and MSNSpaces bloggers “are newbies on the fringes of the blogosphere” and are “nobodies…people who are viewed as influentials only by their moms and ex-girlfriends.”
He also contends with a recent argument put forward by PR blogger Steve Rubel of Micro Pursasion that the choice of MSN Spaces was a safe choice for Volvo by pointing to posts on Spaces that use offensive language.
A small number of MSN Spaces Bloggers have responded that the attack is one of jealously and that Copeland subjectively uses a few bad MSN Spaces blogs to attack the entire service.
Copeland responds to the accusations by asking how many Spaces blogs reach serious traffic numbers and are read by more than a handful of people.
Whilst the next reponse in the flame war is yet to be seen, the debate none the less goes to the heart of the evovling blog advertising market and which form of advertising is actually better: targeted advertising as provided by BlogAds or long tail campaigns such as the Volvo campaign.
