Over the Christmas holidays, digital natives (yes you!) are sometimes asked to reveal which camp you are on.

Are you with #faithinxiaxue or #faithingushcloud?

Many of us have heard of top blogger Xiaxue's online spat with blogger advertising network Gushcloud, which she accused them of engaging in dishonest business practices.

In fact, we are tired of hearing the ongoing spat between the two parties.

So this article is not to take sides but to analyse how this fight will affect Singaporeans' faith in the online world.

The twin pillars of popularity and authenticity provide the soil in which online influence could thrive.

If an outsider seeds doubts in the roots of your existence, it is time for every online influencer to reflect and have a thorough relook at his/her approach to online advertising.

It is undeniable that this represents a crisis for online advertising. But a crisis can be an opportunity. It incites change.

Since trust is the key to any relationship, here are three suggestions how influencers can be more authentic online and rebuild their trust with their fans and clients.

1. Being authentic means putting your readers first.

No, it's not about the money or the clients. They are by-products of your success. Money will come later, if your fame lasts more than fifteen minutes.

We know we are not Internet behemoth Google, however we should learn from them about delayed gratification.

As Google Chairman Eric Smith revealed in How Google Works, "the priority was to grow, not to make money".

In contrast to Google, Excite@Home, one of the web's early search engines, was trying to monetise its traffic in every way possible. This, of course, hurt the user experience and impact its traffic. Fast forward to 2014 - how many of us have heard of Excite@Home?

An example of putting clients first?

A Gushcloud blogger Kife, in reaction to Xiaxue's expose, implied that it is fine for clients to dictate editorial content:

"Client goes to a company and they pay for their ads, they get to choose what they want us to say, AM I NOT RIGHT? This is just an advertising practice that EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING OUT THERE. We live in 2014, everybody knows that these are marketing tactics so please Xiaxue, Didn't you draft out your postings before you publish because your client want to vet through too?" (Kife, What's your problem? Dec. 23, 2014)

My problem? I don't think 2014 marketing means we can hoodwink our readers about our online content. Values do not necessarily change because of time.

How about advertorials or branded content?

There appears to be no consensus whether advertorials should be openly declared to the readers.

While both Gushcloud and their competitor Nuffnang deny forcing their "influencers to mask ads", both do not enforce advertorial transparency.

Gushcloud said that it "doesn’t dictate the disclosure requirements" because "the law does not require it in Singapore". They do not change the post nor force an influencer to remove all mentions of ads if an influencer puts a disclosure saying “Sponsored Post” or “Advertorial".

On the other hand, Nuffnang claims that they encourage "all our bloggers to declare if their post was sponsored".

2. Being authentic means not fluffing your figures

It is tempting to put the best spin to one's impact online.

This is because there are no common metrics of measurement.

In other words, there's more than one way to skin a cat (sorry, cat-lovers) when you present your figures to your readers and/or clients.

Contextualising popularity - Your personal best is not an accurate measurement of your impact

Let's revisit the argument Xiaxue had with Kay Kay about her website page views.

Xiaxue's claim: Using a tracking link, Xiaxue noticed a disparity of between five to ten times for Kay Kay's page views.

Gushcloud founder Vincent Ha's counter-argument: The tracking link Xiaxue used does not show the accurate numbers, as it uses only an aspect of Google Analytics. He also shared Gushcloud's client's rate card and Kay Kay's actual page views, which revealed a smaller discrepancy -- plus/minus 10,000 page views over the course of two years.

Kay Kay's explanation:

They're (Gushcloud) only guilty of not updating their data, but the data is NOT false or made up. When they ask us for our stats, WE ALWAYS HAVE TO GIVE SCREENSHOTS (or provide the managers access to our Google Analytics). We NEVER got away with just TELLING them what the numbers are, as Gushcloud needs the screenshots to account to the clients the total reach and engagement garnered. These numbers are NOT fake nor inflated. We did hit those numbers [Emphasis mine].

The exchanges show that Gushcloud is not lying about its page views.

But they are surprisingly shoddy in providing accurate and timely page views, which is ultimately the premium the client is paying for.

Context is important.

Kay Kay's point about "hitting the numbers" is cold comfort for online advertisers. If Kay Kay did not achieve the numbers in the Gushcloud's rate card on a consistent basis, the advertisers are not getting their money's worth.

Apologies for the hyperbole but this is like saying that world-record holder Michael Phelps deserves to win the swimming Olympic gold medal every time just because.

Contextualising popularity -- Your track record is not an accurate measurement of your impact

Another example of context?

Let's compare the Facebook pages of two highly popular politicians.

Politician Nicole Seah has 113k FB fans, while Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has 33k FB fans.

Source: Nicole Seah FB page

Source: Tan Chuan-Jin Facebook

Check out the engagement of their Facebook fans.

You can see roughly similar levels of engagement among the Facebook fans (in terms of likes, shares and comments) even though Seah has three times more fans than Tan.

The reason is simple.

Seah's FB reach was a historical popularity built over the years since the last General Election.

In other words, Nicole's FB has a historical track record due to past interest or engagement by fans on her page. But this does not mean that her page is as active as her 113k FB fans suggest.

Social media engagement therefore is a more accurate measurement of one's online impact than total FB likes.

This is kinda like a "track record" argument that the ruling party likes to talk about.

An electorate should assess the political party based on the merits of its governance over the past five years instead of its 56-year track record.

Likewise, one should focus on FB fans engagement instead of total FB likes of a page.

3. Being authentic means adhering to a common value system

"Don't be evil", a slogan of Google, is one value that online influencers should embrace.

Social media influencers, as potential role models for young Singaporeans, should adopt practices that are ethical, not just practices that are merely legal.

They wield much influence from their blogs/accounts and they have to be socially responsible for their content.

Offering value to your readers is another.

The system should reward the influencers because of his/her insights, humour, wittiness or even beauty.

And this "perceived value" is earned through sheer hard work, not fake followers or unethical shortcuts.

Veteran blogger Alvinology recently pointed out the lack of ethics in the online world:

"[W]hat Xiaxue dug up is something which lots of marketing agencies and marketers are guilty of. The marketing industry’s job is to market products and services and as such, marketers are also the best at marketing themselves or their own companies, even if it’s fluffed up at times. Is it entirely ethical? No. Is it evil? No either".

But he should go one step further.

Every respectable online influencer should condemn such unethical, though legal, means to inflate one's own performances and impact.

Where do we go from here?

When the dust settles eventually, Nuffnang, Gushcloud and other online companies will have to pick up the pieces and take the lead in the online space.

There are two probable solutions to consider.

1. Encouraging community self-regulation

There is already some form of accountability, as online influencers are ultimately answerable to their blog network or clients. As Kay Kay revealed, Gushcloud needs the screenshots of her webpage analytics to account to the clients.

Nuffnang founder Cheo Ming Shen had also informed the public that Nuffnang updates and presents blogger traffic through its built-in analytics tool.

But Nuffnang's efforts are not enough.

Having a built-in analytics tool is like Singapore Press Holdings or MediaCorp creating Nielsen company in-house to conduct its own media surveys.

In other words, regulation has to go beyond one's company.

2. Ensure common industry standards and practices

In fact, the online world should come together and work towards common industry standards and practices.

And let's not look towards the government to regulate everyone, shall we?

Media Development Authority (MDA) had indicated that it will institute a light-touch framework, adding that:

The industry is encouraged to self-regulate and be socially responsible for their content. MDA encourages content providers in Singapore to develop industry codes of practice, which can be used to promote greater industry self-regulation and complement existing Internet content regulations.​

Currently, the mainstream media is audited by a third-party Audit Bureau of Circulations Singapore.

An idea is to create an independent body (not necessarily government-linked!) to audit the online media (blogs and social media platforms).

And the audit cannot be based merely on anecdotal evidence. In such a fluid environment that is the online space, today's "stars" could be tomorrow's "dogs" in the span of a few months.

The independent body can employ a combination of web analytics tools to measure web traffic data (Alexa, Similarweb) and social media influence (Socialbakers).

The independent body could also ask online influencers to submit their own built-in analytics or Google analytics for assessment.

An online advertising code of practice may also useful. For instance, it can address the following questions:

What would the industry guidelines and standards for online advertorials be?

What would the common measurement tools used to analyse online reach/influence?

How would the tools take into account the rapid growth of social media platforms?

Do we require an online ombudsman (an independent, public advocate that investigates and addresses complaints of maladministration)?

A June 2014 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed that Singapore has a growing Internet advertising market that will grow from US$162 million in 2013 to US$264 million in 2018.

If we look outside at online advertising practised in the US, we see a growing potential everyday.

It is from inside us that the urge to divide arises.

And we still have a long, long way to go compared to the advertising dollars invested in traditional media.

With this motivation our sure reward, let's go forth and do the things we love and ensure that Singaporeans do not lose faith in the online world over this spat, shall we?

With inputs from Gerald Chan.

Top photo from Xiaxue blog.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.