Comments on: FTC and Viral Marketers May Square Off

By: seo-blog-traffic-tips

seo-blog-traffic-tips — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:42:17 +0000

[...] anyway, the FTC has been cracking down on the newer methods of marketing, and social media marketing is not immune as SEOmoz’s general counsel, Sarah Bird, pointed [...]

By: Football Match News | FTC to Regulate Blogs and Social Media?

Football Match News | FTC to Regulate Blogs and Social Media? — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:58:21 +0000

[...] Frank Reed at Marketing Pilgrim: "Regardless of what side of the political fence you are on it’s starting to get a bit scary as to just how much the government wants to be the overseer of everything." [...]

By: FTC eyes social media endorsements | Sway

FTC eyes social media endorsements | Sway — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:09:47 +0000

[...] tip to Andy Beal, Markeing Pilgrim, for raising the topic. Tags: advertising, Bloggers, endorsements, FTC, [...]

By: How Careful Are You Recommending Products on Your Blog? » Work at Home in Progress

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:23:57 +0000

[...] good reading: FTC To Clamp Down On Social Media Marketing FTC and Viral Marketers May Square Off Tags: disclosure, FTC, social media marketing, viral marketing, word of mouth This entry is [...]

By: Government regulation of social media? Hell NO! « the F rant

Government regulation of social media? Hell NO! « the F rant — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:53:24 +0000

[...] is some talk that the US Federal trade Commission (FTC) is looking at regulating social media, with particular reference to ensuring full disclosure of “paid blogs” – in other [...]

By: FTC to Regulate Blogs and Social Media? | Adultresources.Info

FTC to Regulate Blogs and Social Media? | Adultresources.Info — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:59:29 +0000

By: Ciara

Ciara — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:25:48 +0000

If this happens, it will definitely hurt the word of mouth marketing for businesses. But like someone already said you can usually tell when someone is being paid to talk about it from when they are actually very pleased with the product or service. I don’t think this is a good idea on the governments part because it will make our speech more regulated than what it already is. There should, however, be rules made on social media. Once rules are applied the information will create more trust from the people putting the information out there.

By: Eric Keosky-Smith

Eric Keosky-Smith — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:10:04 +0000

Wow … what a pathetic use of government resources as well as a major move into regulated speech.

People will judge people. I fully believe in full disclosure and transparency. Over time the cream (read: truth) will rise to the top. Those that don’t disclose or abuse trust will wane. (If it’s life or death decision – like drugs – ok different story). But otherwise having the gov’t so involved in our lives to protect us from ourselves is just ludicrous ! And this coming from a moderate !!

Did I say “pathetic” yet

By: CINEMAeVIAGGI

CINEMAeVIAGGI — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:58:08 +0000

Blog should be made by passion... even if... money is not so bad! CINEMAeVIAGGI's last blog post..BEATO ANGELICO IN MOSTRA A ROMA

By: Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:15:30 +0000

I can see Google trying to unduly influence the FTC to persuade them to enforce Google’s ridiculous linking guidelines with the weight of law. Specifically, Matt Cutts has long argued that the FTC (should treat) paid links as endorsements, even though they are clearly NOT endorsements as defined under current U.S. Law and government practices. Should the FTC side with Google on the matter I can see more than one lawsuit being filed against any such FTC policy or ruling.

The Federal Trade Commission must not in any way favor a search engine’s business plan. That is completely unacceptable.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:43:15 +0000

I think some sort of disclaimer from a paid content blogger is the right thing to do when they are being paid to pitch something. However, I am also savvy enough to ferret out a "pitch" when I'm reading one versus a real testimonial. I don't think that ability is any new concept to anyone that's ever bought anything. Surely there are some regulations in the future of social media advertising, but let's hope they are wise. Charlie's last blog post..Get your ad in front of the right audience

By: Aaron Ellsworth

Aaron Ellsworth — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:38:11 +0000

Thanks for the insight and opinion Frank. It is inevitable that the government will attempt to regulate social media. If bloggers are central to the scrutiny, one solution would be to create a required certification program for bloggers and social media marketers that receive any compensation for their work and expect them to use their designation in their work. If certified bloggers are held to a higher standard, it would do two things: 1) build trust and a larger following between the reader and blogger, knowing that the blogger is held to these standards and 2) It would allow the government to prevent many misleading statements and so forth from entering the blogosphere. I know this doesn’t solve all the problems the government is looking to address with social media, but by holding individuals and businesses that implement social media for gain to higher standards it would alleviate much of the regulatory pressure.

By: Snir

Snir — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:30:49 +0000

It only means international affiliates like myself will have better conversion rates, exactly like it was on the casino and warez industries, and Americans will have a hard time competing. with an offshore hosting and an LLC abroad you should be perfectly safe as well.