FTC's Blogger Rules: A Little Background

I have been discussing these FTC guidelines (see posts below) with several of the thought-leaders in the social media/word-of-mouth space, and they have been able to cast a little light on the situation.

Bob Pearson of WeissComm suggests that "the FTC is concerned with the growth of sponsored conversations"--he points to http://socialspark.com/ as an example--and says: "In this site, a blogger can literally sign up and be paid a certain amount of money for writing about a product. This means that there could be no product review... just simply someone trying to make money, so they write what they think should be said. The guidelines are clearly against this."

But he acknowledges that "legit blogging may be getting caught in the cross-fire" and eventually arrives at the same place I did: "In principle, disclosure is always good. So why not disclose free anything in print or blogs. Should this not become the best practice?"

The fact is, if these guidelines become actual regulations, this is probably the only way to defend them--both intellectually and legally. They will have to apply to everyone.

Paul Rand , who is president and CEO of word-of-mouth specialist Zocalo Group and also president-elect of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, was on the NAD Annual Conference panel in New York yesterday with Mary Engle of the FTC and says his initial impression was "the same as yours that bloggers are being looked at differently than journalists.

"When asked about this during the session, Mary commented that consumers knew/know that a journalist is in a 'reviewing' position but that is likely different for many bloggers."

I guess I'd take issue with that, because I consider myself a pretty sophisticated consumer of news and opinion and I don't know which reviewers accept free products and which have policies against. I'm guessing some product reviewers send their free software/games/books, etc., back or donate them to charity or something, while others keep them. (Full disclosure: I've been sent books, for example, and held on to them.)

Similarly, some automotive journalists accept free trips to exotic locales for new product introductions, some travel writers accept free flights and hotel rooms while reviewing destinations. Others have strict rules against accepting these freebies. Do most consumers understand the difference? Does Engle?