FTC disclosure guidelines - Blogs

[tickler]

I wonder how they are going to apply to commercial sBlogs |huh

The agency absolutely plans to keep tabs on social networks as well as blogs in accordance with revised regulations that could see violators fined up to $11,000, he said.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10368064-36.html

[InfoGuy]

"A safe prediction for 2010: some big scandal when the first celebrity to run afoul of the new rules, by promoting a product on Twitter or a talk show, gets fined by the FTC."

An $11,000 fine is peanuts to a large company that wants to get the corresponding free publicity. A full page ad in a popular magazine can cost $100,000+. Whatever scandal happens, they'll probably milk the publicity for awhile with bogus lawsuit and settlement press releases.

[tickler]

Agreed.

But the question is whether porn blogs, review sites, etc. will have to do a disclosure also.

[whitey]

Agreed.

But the question is whether porn blogs, review sites, etc. will have to do a disclosure also.

I pretty much put a disclosure statement on my newer blogs and am updating older ones anyway. I get quite a few positive surfer comments about the trasparency and it seems to have helped sales somewhat.

My statement varies, but it is something to the effect that we use affiliate commissions to offset costs but recommend only quality sites regardless as almost all sites offer affiliate proggies. I get about 1 positive comment each week per blog that I have this statement on.