I think I’ve mentioned this before but did you know that SocialSpark is now officially released to everyone in the public? That’s right, no more invite only registrations and you can now see it all live in action! It’s a BIG change from PayPerPost if you currently use that. Both PPP and Social Spark are managed by Izea inc. but Social Spark is NOT PPP’s replacement. It operates independently. The interface is completely different and so are the options to customize.

It’s a new environment to get accustomed to, I will say that. It’s a lot busier and more colorful than I’m used to. You can do posts basic called sponsored posts, sparks which are posted by bloggers and the majority are you write about me and I’ll link you back, and blog sponsorship which usually pays a bit more (and per day) but it has these HUGE display banners that pop up for all your visitors and say “This blog is sponsored by so and so”. I personally won’t use them, I think my readers would get quite irritated with that and I don’t want to drive them away.

They also allow you to create a public profile where you can share your picture, interests, location, and even friend other bloggers so it’s more about social networking and such than just a sponsored blogging site. That’s a pretty nifty feature I think and you can see mine which I linked above although it’s not too in depth yet. I haven’t spent too much time on that just yet.

There are a few cons which are driving me away from it a bit and it’s why I haven’t full on jumped on the bandwagon. The opportunities ALL require you to wait for it to be reserved for you which is nice in that you don’t have to wait for them all to open like hawks BUT they will email you at midnight when it’s reserved and say you have 12 hours to make the post. Excuse me? I work 11pm-7am and I sleep until 2-3pm. That kicks me right out the door. I’m not going to force myself to blog that early just to meet a deadline like that. I think you should be given 24 hours because some people aren’t on the computer during that time period. Things happen and I’ve personally lost out on 3 opportunities already that way out of the 6 or so I was given since I joined. I really hope that gets modified shortly. Or you could specify a time in which you’d like to be notified. I wouldn’t mind if my 12 hours started at noon and I had until midnight to do so.

Otherwise I’ll keep my eye on it and see how it takes off. I think it’s got great potential.

This is a sponsored post.