Wow – you really know that social media and it’s powerful influence on consumer purchasing decisions is working when the government feels the need to get in the middle of it all.
Here is an excerpt from the AP article: FTC: Bloggers,testimonials need better disclosure – Read the Full Story
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results. The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.
For bloggers, the FTC stopped short of specifying how they must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous,” no matter what form it will take.
OP-Ed by Eric Felton – Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2009 – “Save US from the Swag-Takers”
The agency declared that “a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.” Sounds reasonable enough, until it becomes clear just how expansive the FTC’s concept of an “in-kind payment” is. The blogger who gets a free review copy of a book and writes up his opinion of it is now being labeled by the government a commercial endorser of the book—even if he pans it. This is not how traditional media are treated, which is what makes the new rules so significant: The government has weighed in on the contentious topic of whether bloggers are journalists—and delivered a resounding No.
Can the FTC really monitor the millions of blogs out there and being launched daily?
Can anyone say Free Speech?
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