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Called evil by some, a Godsend by others, the folks formerly known as PayPerPost – a service that’s ‘pay-for-play’ on blogs – is launching a social network.The company, now known as IZEA, is releasing SocialSpark, built around the premise of marrying brands and services together.

What sets the product apart from MySpace and Facebook (which have already employed similar measures), is that the community is targeting bloggers and offering a level of transparency that they hope will help them become better received on the Web.

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On IZEA’s side is a base of 85,000 bloggers and 11,000 advertisers. Also, by mobilizing the very bloggers they pay, word
will get out about the network in no time at all.

An open API for the product is on the horizon. They’ll even offer support for Google’s OpenSocial. Google has recently spanked thousands of bloggers by lowering their PageRank scores because of blogs’ use of paid links.

Whether or not SocialSpark will be embraced by the very blogs that have blasted the company remains to be seen.

One of the sweeter features is the “Unique Blog Welcome” that allow bloggers to display a blog sponsorship greeting to
visitors. The message then innocently hangs out in the corner of the Web site.

All data is searchable, helping advertisers find suitable bloggers to promote their brand. Additionally, the network will be
packed with analytical reporting for advertisers and bloggers, so both sides can figure out what is working and what is not.

Andy Beard has a detailed write up that you can catch here.

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