Full disclosure...
Context & Ripple Effects
Robert Scoble's independence has been the running question of his year: back in January 2006, the blog world debated whether he should leave Microsoft, and 'Full disclosure...' is him drawing a line around a new entanglement — his connection to John Edwards' presidential bid, announced on YouTube. The pickup pattern shows why the disclosure matters more than the announcement itself: Dembot and NewTeeVee framed the story as Edwards' 'YouTube candidacy,' while Valleywag went straight at the messenger with 'Tail wagging dog — lagging presidential candidate turns to Robert Scoble.'
First-order effects
- Edwards' campaign gains a credentialed conduit into the tech-blog audience, but every piece of Scoble's coverage of the race now carries an undisclosed-until-now conflict that readers must weigh.
Second-order effects
- Rival campaigns are pushed to treat online video and blogger outreach as a real channel rather than an experiment — NewTeeVee's 'YouTube candidacy' framing signals the press will judge candidates on it.
Third-order effects
- If campaigns routinely recruit high-profile bloggers, the line between pundit, consultant, and endorser blurs, making explicit disclosure norms — like the one Scoble just practiced — a structural requirement for political blogging.
The trend: Presidential politics is absorbing the blog-and-video ecosystem, with influencer disclosure becoming part of how campaigns are covered.