by Michelle Lentz on October 5, 2009
It’s official. The FTC has released guidelines requiring bloggers to fully disclose when they are being paid for reviews. If they don’t, they are chancing up to an $11,000 fine, according to the Associated Press. (Note – The FTC press release does not mention the amount of the fine.) Blogs or not, these guidelines apparently haven’t been updated since around 1980. It was time. The Guides, however, affect more than bloggers. The new updates apply to advertising across the board.
According to the FTC, the revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising require a reviewer or ad to clearly disclose the results that consumers can expect from the product. In other words, that old “results not typical” isn’t going to fly any more. The Guides also ask for clear disclosure:
The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.
Additionally, the Guides now address celebrity endorsements, holding both the company and the endorsers responsible for false claims. The revisions require that celebrities must make their affiliation clear when making endorsements outside of traditional marketing, including talk shows and social media.
I don’t see that this will be too much of a problem. Most of the bloggers I know (and myself included) always reveal when we receive free samples, whether technology or wine. Those of us who review technology often have to give the technology back. With wine and food, that’s not possible, but most wine bloggers reveal complimentary samples without a second thought. I suspect this will have more impact on bloggers who accept payment in cash or merchandise for reviewing a product. As Mashable points out, the Ford Fiesta and General Mills bloggers (amongst others) are going to have to be crystal clear about disclosing their relationship.
While I know some bloggers will be ranting about the unfairness of this, I think it’s a great idea. I’m glad that the FTC has seen blogs as part of legitimate advertising campaigns. It’s what we wanted, right?
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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
by Michelle Lentz on September 28, 2009
I was lucky enough to be asked to speak at the first annual BlogHer Food. For those of you who remember my BlogHer ‘09 posts from July, you might be surprised I so willingly attended. I was surprised myself, but curiosity got the better of me, and I’m glad it did.
Continuing the motif, I was also surprised that I enjoyed myself so thoroughly. I had intended on staying through my session, which was before lunch, and then heading out to explore San Francisco. I ended up remaining at the conference for the entire day. I found the sessions, while geared towards recipe-oriented food bloggers, were still relevant for review and wine blogs as well. The whole attitude of the day was different from what I expected, and I was thrilled. It was the perfect size (I believe it was around 300 people) and the programming struck just the right note.
My panel focused on blogging best practices. Not only was I on a panel with an impressive group of women, we actually talked about blogging. It was refreshing. I also attended a session on photography basics, as well as a fantastic session on protecting your work and copyright. I learned something in every session I attended. I’m a terrible conference attendee, and often my attention easily wanders, so BlogHer Food’s programming impressed me.
In fact, the only complaint I heard from anyone (myself included) was about the lunch. It was a hyper Rocco diSpirito and Bertolli. Yep, they served a bunch of food bloggers thawed Bertolli. This isn’t a food blog, but when the people at the table are complaining that the ravioli alfredo was more reminiscent of biscuits and gravy, you know there’s a problem.
Perhaps it was because we were all coalescing around a common topic – the love of food and wine – but I found the entire environment to be a lot more friendly than my previous BlogHer experiences. I hunted down folks I knew, people I hadn’t seen in a long time, and even met several impressive authors who were more than friendly. I gladly attended a party in the evening, looking forward to seeing some people again. I discovered that food bloggers are food bloggers, no matter their genre. Recipe bloggers were interested in hearing from review bloggers (and wine bloggers!) and I was interested to talk to the recipe folks. It was just such a different experience – for me – than the larger BlogHer conference I attended in July.
Finally, while there was swag, it was both excellent and controlled. I believe there were only five sponsors in the expo/demo area (Healthy Choice, Campbell’s, Pur, Cuisinart, and Pillsbury) as well as the Bertolli lunch and the California Milk-sponsored breakfast. I have no complaints with the goodies with which I came home. The organization even set up an easy and obvious area to donate unwanted foodstuffs from the goodie bags to a local shelter.
Even if I don’t speak next year, I’ll gladly return to BlogHer Food. Among other things, it was just great to be in a room with other people who all whip out their cameras to take a photo of their food. Camaraderie wins every time.
Update: Live blogs from the sessions are now available.
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Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
by Michelle Lentz on August 18, 2009
According to Mashable, popular blogging site Tumblr is launching two new features today: hashtag and Facebook integration.
Their use of hashtags will happen in “Tag Channels,” which allow bloggers to tag their content that turns up in the most popular place on the web right now: real-time search. Tumblr is getting into the real-time search area. Their search includes a sliding filter that lets you narrow down results.
Additionally, Tumblr is releasing Facebook integration that ensures all of your posts – no matter what media or format – will post correctly and prettily to Facebook.
by julieblaustein on August 14, 2009
By Julie Blaustein
Girls in Tech Attendees and Venture Beat's Camille Ricketts
Girls in Tech hosted another sold out evening at the MySpace trendy offices in San Francisco. The event, coined Journalism 2.0 Round Table included a crowd of about 100 eager gals and a few guys too. They were there to learn more about the ever-evolving world of journalism. Brian Solis, Principal of Future Works PR and blogger at PR 2.0, set the tone to the evening by talking with The Wall Street Journal’s Kara Swisher about PR and how its evolved in the last decade. If you weren’t aware, Brian has recently published the much anticipated, ‘Putting the Public back in Public Relations‘. When Kara asked Brian, “What do you need to be in PR?” Brian responded, “You need to start rethinking whatever it is that you know.” Perhaps suggesting that if you want to know about PR, its all in the book. Brian also mentioned that if you want to learn more about PR, check out the Conversation Prism, the Art of Listening, Learning and Sharing.
The impressive panel included former SF Chronicle Tech Editor Deborah Gage, ZdNet’s Jennifer Leggio, Ubergizmo Editor Eliane Fiolet, VentureBeat’s Camille Ricketts and Techie Diva’s Gina Hughes and did not disappoint the audience with its lively discussion. Topics discussed were about blogging and how its changed the face of journalism, how citizen journalism and how it is impacting traditional journalism, and also the impact of being a woman in the male-dominated world of tech.
Kara kept the conversation moving rapid-fire, without missing a beat; even making some pretty amusing remarks. When talking about how women can find themselves in this male dominated techie world, the panel had all experienced discrimination and blatant sexism at some points in their career. Gina of TechieDiva shared how while at Yahoo! her professional picture that was waist up and seemed to focus on her breasts, solicited many unwanted comments. She would have preferred more professional comments. ZdNet’s Jennifer Leggio felt there was a belief that she wasn’t all that Techie because she worked in the marketing department and as a result she felt compelled to always be on the defensive to prove them wrong.
Some Great Advice about becoming and being a blogger:
- Just Blog! If you are passionate about it, then you will be successful. Do not worry if you don’t have any experience, it will come.
- If you have an opportunity to do a free internship, Do it!
- Always say YES to any task presented to you. Kara Started delivering mail to folks that she has come to manage.
- Follow your Instincts. If you have this crazy dream to start a blog, Do it!
- Do not burn any bridges – you never know when that person will be the Hiring Manager
- Be Knowledgeable. If you need to learn more, take classes, network, get involved
- Utilize as many tools as possible in addition to your blogging platform to stay connected with your audience – Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, iPhones, Blackberry’s, etc
- Link to higher ranking blog sites to help build up your own traffic. If possible, become part of a site’s Blog Roll
- Accept that Traditional Journalism is being replace by Journalism 2.0 – the big difference is you can get things done more quickly and at times may have even more more resources
Kara Swisher of Wall Street Journal and Brian Solis of Future Works
Former SF Chronicle's Deborah Gage , Venture Beat's Camille Ricketts and Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal
The Sold Out Girls in Tech Audience Listens Closely to the Panel.
Panelists Ubergizmo's Editor Elaine Fiolet, ZdNet's Jennifer Leggio and Gina of Techie Diva
BlogHer was rather heavy on the “Mommy Bloggers,” which is a whole other post in itself. Remember, Mommy Bloggers, like tech bloggers, are key influencers and are being offered a lot of household and baby products for free or pay for post. But several of the Mommy Bloggers have created