Earlier this week, one of the orb28 adult moderators removed a comment from a woman promoting her book to orb28 readers because she felt it violated the no advertising guideline. But an orb28 member wondered why the comment had been deleted, and she raised a very good, and important, question. What IS the difference between advertising and adding something valuable to the discussion?

I think it’s fascinating how much new media has changed the business of advertising. When you sit down to watch TV or listen to the radio, it’s fairly obvious when you are being exposed to an advertisement. Figuring out when you are being advertised to online is more difficult. Companies have become increasingly strategic about how to reach their target market in ways that feel less invasive and obvious to their audience.

One example of non-traditional advertising online is MySpace. Many companies create their own MySpace pages. This allows them to “friend” and be “friended” by their potential customers, which both builds brand loyalty and gives the companies direct access to their market audience—for free!

Here at orb28, we try to discourage people from advertising products on the blog through posting comments. However, the line between mentioning a product for the purpose of advertisement or sincere comment is vague.

What do you girls think about our current policy towards posting comments and promotion? Do you think we should be more lenient in our policy and allow some promotion? I’d love to hear your thoughts!