Ampers & Dot

Today I’m going to cover two topics: the place of sponsored blog posts in social media and pretty kickass widescreen computer monitors. Spoiler alert: these two topics are actually directly related… although I’m hoping you saw that coming.

Well I want to start with a full transparency disclaimer: this post idea comes courtesy of the great people at LG, who have donated me two brand new W2353V SMART series computer monitors - one to review (*UPDATE - see my “Freebies” disclaimer at the bottom of this post*) and one to give away to one of my lucky readers. (Side note: how cool is that?) That’s right, keep reading to the end, there’s a chance for you to win one of these (Sierra Nevada not included)!

So before I get to the review, let’s talk about sponsored conversations. This is an area I know pretty well, mainly through my day job researching the subject (link for Forrester clients only, but for a free recap, check out my colleague Sean Corcoran’s blog post covering the topic here). So when this opportunity came up, I thought it would be a good chance to evaluate the concept of sponsored conversations from a more hands-on perspective.

The idea behind sponsored conversations is that the company gives a blogger something for free and in return the blogger writes up a review, igniting earned social media for the product. It’s cheap for the company (inventory cost in relation to media buys) and is incredibly well targeted - I was approached because I write about technology products, therefore my readers (you!) expect to come here to read about technology products. Chances are that if you’re a reader then you trust my opinion - and if I say good things about this product, then it’s good press - and either way I have an extra to give away to readers (which might help boost my readership/engagement) and then it’s good for everyone.

As Sean points out in the report (and blog post linked above) sponsored conversations work, but their success is contingent on two main contingents:

1) Sponsorship transparency

2) Blogger authenticity

So I think I’ve covered #1 pretty well so far. So now I’ll cover #2: I promise that the following review is 100% my opinion and in no way (or as much as I can control) related to the fact that I got the product for free. But having said that - I cannot guarantee that my review won’t be influenced by my main basis of computer-monitor-comparison, a 17″ dell from five years ago…

I think I was due for an upgrade...

Let’s dive into the review of the LG W2353 Smart Series

First impression: wow.

Second impression: seriously, wow.

The W53 (as I’ll call it from now on for brevity and convenience) is beautiful, both in its external looks and its screen clarity. It has a sleek glassy finish that I’ve come to expect from LG. Let’s put it this way, I’m married to an interior designer- and she approved of its looks matching up to our decor- believe me, that’s an accomplishment. The 23″ screen is pretty thin and super wide - with a maximum resolution of an HD 1920 by 1080 (which makes my old Dell monitor look as embarrassingly outdated as a CRT and Google look like it has an eating disorder).

Now I don’t want to bore you with specs (for that, check out this page), but the cooler aspects of the W53 sit beyond the numbers. The “Smart” features in the “Smart” series are a fairly nifty proximity sensing technology around the buttons - so when you wave your hand near the bottom panel, which contains hidden buttons, they light up (I’ll come back to this “feature” in a minute) - and an auto brightness feature that automatically adjusts the screen’s lighting to the surroundings, in an attempt to reduce eye-strain (which me and my rapidly aging eyes seriously need).

It also has this “Smart” feature, which allows you to set a timer to remind you to take a break… and to be honest, I just don’t really get that part. Seems a little hokey to me. I mean, I get that I shouldn’t spend hours on end staring at a computer screen, but the three problems with this are a) it’s 2009, we all sit in front of computers all day, b) if you need a timer to tell you to stop working, you problem having bigger issues to deal with, and c) if you want to afford cool electronics like this, you’d probably be better off not taking breaks as often as your monitor tells you…

Anyway, what can’t really be put into words is the ridiculous clarity of the full HD screen. I’ll put it this way: hooking up the W53 to my cable box via HDMI input makes my LCD TV self conscious (or, to project less, it makes me feel self-conscious about my LCD TV…). 1920 by 1080 resolution is an amazing sight and after a few straight days working of my 9″ netbook, I must say that it’s borderline ridiculous. Truly crisp, clear, and impressively fun to use.

I only see two downsides to the W53: first, the stand has limited adjustment options and is also a little weak - it feels a little flimsy and makes me nervous as the its only function is to support the fancy monitor - it’s like putting a new BMW on bicycle wheels. The second downside, as hinted at earlier, are the buttons - or should I say “lack of” buttons.

The buttons aren’t really there, they’re built into the flat panel on the button. The proximity light-up thing is great, just really gadgetastically cool and fun to show off, but problematically underneath the cool lighting part, there just aren’t buttons behind the light. This makes navigating the panel’s menus very difficult. But if you wanted to hear me bitch about buttons, you could read one of my other dozens of posts on the subject. This isn’t a big deal as I don’t foresee a need to actually use these buttons, I just personally find it annoying.

All in all I can honestly say this is the best monitor I’ve ever used. Do I have a huge basis for comparison? No. But that doesn’t change how cool this monitor is.

So that’s my honest and open product review for LG’s W53. Was I fair?

CONTEST!
Now let’s move on to the part you’re likely waiting for: the contest to win a 23″ LG Smart Series Monitor of your own!

I’m going to send the extra monitor LG gave me to the reader who sends in the best story for why you need the upgrade. Sure, I complained about my five year old 17″ Dell monitor, but I bet there are readers out there far more deserving with far worse monitors. So write me an email (my contact info is appropriately placed on my Contact Page) with your story - and I’ll send the most deserving reader a brand new one. I’ll write up a short post announcing the winner early next week.

Here are the restrictions: 1) All submissions must be in by Wednesday, July 29th and 2) this contest is only available to readers over 18 in the continental 48 states - I’m paying the shipping to get this out and just can’t swing sending a 15lb package over seas.

So let’s use the comments for this: what do you think of sponsored conversations? How did I handle it?

*UPDATE: after further consideration, and discussion with others about accepting freebies, I won’t be keeping the review monitor. As part of my day job of thinking impartially while comparing vendors and analyzing companies in the technology and marketing sectors, accepting anything of this scale from a company could potentially come of as trying to bias me. So my new policy, which I’ll update on my “About” page, is that I do not keep any items and will give-away any review items companies send me. Yeah, this isn’t awesome for me, but it keeps me honest and lets me do my job better - plus, it’s awesome for you because it means more give-aways on this blog! I’ll write more about this on my follow up post. Thanks!