There's no question contextual advertising has changed the world of online publishing. Just about anyone can publish now and make money (maybe even a comfortable living) doing it, provided they have something compelling to say and a large, willing audience who will listen and hopefully surf the ads served up on the site.
In a man-bites-dog twist to the contextual advertising story, Gizmodo Associate Editor Travis Hudson editorialized yesterday about a company named UpSNAP (full disclosure, a PAN client) which was amplified by Gizmodo's sister blog, Wonkette.
UpSNAP had just released a new text message alert service in conjunction with AlertsUSA, through which anyone with a cell phone can receive news and information about threats to national security, natural disasters, terrorism and their health, including news about the spread of Bird Flu among other infectious diseases. Alerts USA receives its information directly from government sources such as the Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control, FEMA, the FBI and the Department Health and Human Services and more. UpSNAP provides the means to distribute that content via text message to any cell phone and can stream live broadcasts of alerts to provide additional information.
In the post Travis reports that "UpSnap has decided to be complete @--holes [sorry Travis, this is a family blog] and try to profit from the potential cataclysmic epidemic of bird flu. The service will inform persons when bird flu has reached their area with a text message."
Travis goes on to provide a somewhat backhanded endorsement of the service and then instructs his readers how to sign up for it. Thank you Travis.
While we're enthusiastic about the traffic Travis' post and Wonkette's weigh-in on the subject generated, something struck us as ironic: Travis' having been appalled by the notion of a company providing a service where none existed before, and the ads running on Gizmodo's site, right under Travis' post. Bird Flu threat alert service, bad; selling Bird Flu masks on Gizmodo, well that's okay. See adds below the post.
