Today Vincent announced that he has a new blog, Money Talks, and it's sponsored by Virgin Money.

The new blog is about banking and in Vincent's own words,

The basic idea is this: I have a baby (also in the pipeline har) due in two weeks now, I know i need to get my personal finances in order and Virgin Money contacted me and asked me if they can sponsor a blog about it. I said “sure, why not? As long as you don;t tell me what to write”. They agreed, so it happened.

Immediately I can hear bloggers tapping at their keys and making a fuss about the influence that a big corporate has on the blogging ethos. Rubbish I say.

First off Virgin is not sponsoring Vincent's regular blogs so there is no direct impact there. Second off, I think, as Vincent says on his new Money Talks blog,

Historically this is a moment of crystallization – all the talk about the legitimacy of blogging as a cultural explosion, and the commercial value of the blogging medium in general, seems to me to have come together. It is a sign of respect for the individuals who make up this community that it is being recognized as a powerful consumer voice and not dismissed as a morass of subjective nonsense.

Good point. Bloggers must begin to understand that money is not the root of all evil, in fact, we all spend our days wondering how we can profit from our passion for blogging. Vincent is doing just that, and good on him.

However, with all of this said, I must ask the question: What if Vince wants to bad mouth Virgin Money? Or Virgin Music, Virgin Gyms or Virgin Airways for that matter? What then? Is this sort of "freedom of speech" allowed in their deal? I wonder? Vincent must believe that it is, otherwise he wouldn't have done it but I have my doubts.

Nevertheless I am extremely excited about the prospects of this sort of deal for the blogging community here in SA. The big corporates have finally taken not of the expansive impact blogs could have on the South African Community. Good job Virgin, good work Vince.