With the rise of the self-media era, cooperation between consumer electronics companies and individual bloggers has long been an industry practice. Manufacturers need extensive exposure of their new products, and bloggers also need to get devices as soon as possible to gain the first wave of traffic.

Is there a vague boundary as to whether the bloggers who get new products through the company need to speak highly of the product to get the favor and continued cooperation of the manufacturer?

Google caused an Internet backlash by directly putting this requirement in writing.

What happened?

In this week's 'Made by Google' launch event, Google introduced the Pixel 9 series of smartphones.

However, in recent days, various bloggers have released the 'Influence Plan' of Google, which is the review agreement of Team Pixel, on the Internet. It directly states that bloggers participating in this program 'are expected to use Google Pixel devices instead of any competitor's mobile devices,' and 'if other brands' devices are found to be better than Pixel, we will have to terminate the cooperation between brands and creators.'

To put it simply, these bloggers need to ensure that they do not show any favor towards other competitive mobile devices if they want to get the device before it hits the market.

These terms quickly caused confusion on the Internet and affected many big V and technology media. Kayla Geier, Google's PR manager, immediately responded that Team Pixel is an independent program separate from Google's news and creator review program. The goal of this project is to put the product in the hands of Internet content creators, rather than news media or technology reviewers.

Geier said that the new wording used in the Team Pixel form was indeed a mistake and has now been deleted.

It is reported that the Team Pixel project is different from the technology media and technology reviewers who have more influence. The latter can get the product before it hits the market and produce review content, while the participants of Team Pixel can only get the device after the product is released to the public. This project is operated by PR company 1000heads, so not all the blame can be placed on Google.

For some smaller bloggers, this project is also an opportunity to enter the consumer electronics industry.

Technology bloggers have spoken up one after another.

The problem is that as the incident was exposed, many fans began to scrutinize the tech bloggers they trust. After all, the Team Pixel project has been in operation for many years. Many influential technology channels have also participated in this project.

Adam Mattlock, the blogger who launched the 'Tech Odyssey' channel on Google's YouTube platform, announced his withdrawal from the Team Pixel project as soon as possible.

Mattlock explained that he joined the project about five years ago because it was a good way to get new phones on time or in advance, which was important for people in his line of work. But before this launch event, Google did not make such demands. In the past, they only needed to add tags such as 'Team Pixel' and 'Gifts from Google' when publishing videos to comply with U.S. legal requirements.

Mattlock, who has 0.15 million subscribers, said he has officially notified relevant parties that he has withdrawn from the project.

Kevin Nether, the blogger who operates the Tech Ninja channel, said he withdrew from the Team Pixel project because of this provision. Nether said that as a person who makes a living by reviewing technology, he needs to cooperate with many brands. Being forced to use only one product is impossible and not what he wants to participate in.

Nether also said that this kind of exclusivity in cooperation is not typical. Usually, when brands require creators or brand ambassadors to provide exclusivity, they will offer rewards and provide more clear, strict content production requirements and timelines.

Many bloggers who participated in the Team Pixel project have also made it clear that Google will not provide rewards for the project.

Marques Brownlee, a global top technology blogger with 17 million fans, who just released a Pixel phone review this week, also spoke out for the first time, repeatedly emphasizing that he is not a participant in this project and will never participate in such a project.

At the same time, he interpreted the event from the perspective of an "outsider".

Marques Brownlee said that what Google did is actually what most technology companies want to do - to obtain praise on the Internet when new products are released and to have prior knowledge of these. So Google cleverly came up with a way to create a new project and then allow participants to promise in black and white that they "will give good reviews." For some bloggers, this is also an opportunity to collaborate with Google and get devices in advance.

He also said that the problem with this is that it will "muddy the waters of the market." After a new product is released, there will be a large number of review videos. Some participants promising "good reviews" and some not, viewers will not delve into the differences between each project, but will suspect whether bloggers who give Pixel phones good reviews are members of this "Team."

As an industry leader, Marques Brownlee recommends that bloggers who aspire to engage in objective technology reviews should never sign such contracts that sacrifice independence. But he also reluctantly admits that for many small-volume bloggers and newcomers, this is their only way to collaborate with Google and get devices in advance. Marques Brownlee helplessly said that this is the smartest thing Google did in this project.

Editor/ping