With the rise of the self media era, cooperation between consumer electronics manufacturers and individual bloggers has long been an industry practice - manufacturers need to widely expose their new products, and bloggers also need to get their devices in the first time to seize the first wave of traffic.
There is also a vague boundary: compared to publicly signed "brand ambassadors", do these bloggers who only obtain new products through the company in advance need to "speak up" for the products to gain the favor of manufacturers and continue cooperation?
Google has directly written down this requirement in black and white, which has triggered Internet complaints.
What happened?
At this week's "Made by Google" launch event, Google unveiled the Pixel 9 series of smartphones.
However, in recent days, on the Internet, bloggers have issued Google's "Influence Plan" - the review agreement of Team Pixel. The above clearly states that the participating internet bloggers "expect to use Google Pixel devices to replace any competitor's mobile devices" and "if we find that other brands' devices are better than Pixel, we will have to terminate the partnership between the brand and the creator".
(Source: The Verge)
Simply translate this paragraph into Chinese, which means that if these bloggers want to get their devices before they go public, they must ensure that they do not show any preference for other competing phones.
These terms quickly caused confusion on the Internet and affected many big V and technology media. In response, Google PR manager Kayla Geier immediately stated that Team Pixel is an independent project separate from Google's news and creator review programs. The goal of this project is to hand the product to Internet content creators, not news media or technical commentators.
Geier stated that the new wording used in the Team Pixel form did have some errors and has now been removed.
It is reported that the Team Pixel project is different from collaborating with technology media and technology commentators who have more vertical influence. The latter can obtain the product and produce evaluation content before the new product is launched; And the participants of Team Pixel can only receive the device after the new product is released and before the public officially receives the product. This project is operated by the public relations company 1000heads, so the blame cannot be solely placed on Google.
For some smaller bloggers, this project is also an opportunity to enter the consumer electronics track.
Tech bloggers speak out one after another
The problem is that with the exposure of the matter, many fans have also begun to scrutinize their trusted tech bloggers. After all, this Team Pixel project has been in operation 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, immediately announced his withdrawal from the Team Pixel project.
(Source: X)
Matlock introduced that he joined this project about 5 years ago because it was a good way to get a new phone on time or in advance, which was important for his profession. But before this press conference, Google did not make such aggressive demands. In the past, it only needed to label videos with tags such as "Team Pixel" and "Gift from Google" to comply with US legal requirements.
Matlock, who has 150000 subscribers, has officially notified the relevant parties and withdrawn from the project.
Kevin Nether, a blogger who operates the Tech Ninja channel, stated that it was precisely because of this clause that he withdrew from the Team Pixel project. Nether stated that as someone who makes a living by commenting on technology, he needs to collaborate with many brands. Being forced to only use one product - this is simply impossible for him and not something he wants to participate in.
Nether also stated that the exclusivity that occurs in such collaborations is an atypical situation. Typically, if a brand requests exclusivity from creators or brand ambassadors, they will provide compensation and give clearer and stricter content production requirements and timelines.
Many bloggers who have participated in the TeamPixel project have also made it clear that Google will not provide compensation for the project.
Marques Brownlee, a global top tech blogger with 17 million followers and who just released a Pixel phone review this week, also spoke out at the first time, repeatedly emphasizing that he is not a participant in this project and will never participate in it.
(Source: X)
At the same time, he also interpreted the event from the perspective of an outsider.
Marques Brownlee said that what Google is doing is actually what most technology companies want to do - to get some kind of praise from the Internet when releasing new products, and to know these things in advance. So Google cleverly came up with a way to create a new project and had participants promise in black and white that they would give positive reviews. For some bloggers, this is also an opportunity to establish cooperation with Google and obtain devices in advance.
He also said that the problem with this matter is that it will stir up the "market waters". After the release of a new product, there will be a large number of review videos, some of which have participated in projects that promise positive reviews, while others have not. Audiences will not delve into the differences between each project, but will suspect whether the bloggers who give Pixel phone positive reviews are part of this "team".
As a leader in the industry, Marques Brownlee suggests that bloggers who aspire to engage in objective technology commentary should never sign contracts that lose their independence. But he also reluctantly admitted that for many small bloggers and newcomers, this is the only way for them to connect with Google and get their devices in advance. Marques Brownlee helplessly stated that this is the most "clever" aspect of Google's approach to this project.
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