You might find this article interesting...

http://www.invesp.com/blog/social-me...-top-user.html

A top Digg user (Digg Throat) with a popular ratio of 34% has been getting paid well for promoting articles on Digg. His/her popularity has allowed numerous stories to reach the Digg Home Page, and when that happens he/she gets paid even more. Digg Throat has been charging up to $700 per article for his/her promotion, and if a particular item reaches Digg's home page, he/she gets another $500.

"I have worked for many popular blogs and I know most top users do," explains Digg Throat.

It's hard to imagine this is limited to Digg or even to the social media umbrella. It's even harder to distinguish how this differs from other PR/marketing tactics like celebrity endorsement or message creation and dissemination. The ethics road is a virtual quagmire of journalistic idealism vs. economic realism; but no one is altering truth, just presenting a truth more prominently.