What do ya thing about the FTC's changes that will affect bloggers? I think they have more important things to do 
Tips for blogging in the new era of the FTC
(4 posts) (3 voices)
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Personally, they don't really change what I am doing ... just being a bit more conscious on making sure I have disclosures though.
Compliance is easy ... I can add a line or two of boilerplate to an article and be ok. But how about facebook or worse twitter ...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Just wanted to weigh in, because based on what I'm reading around the blogosphere, it seems a lot of bloggers are confused by the new FTC guidelines, and some feel that the FTC is just wasting time & tax dollars on bloggers.
The truth is that the new FTC Guidelines were written to protect consumers from making purchasing decisions based on testimonials and endorsements that could be exaggerated (claiming better than average results), purchased (where a testimonial or endorsement is made simply in exchange for payment), or downright fake.
We've all seen websites that boast amazing results (whatever those results might be, e.g. dramatic weight loss, whiter teeth, making huge amounts of money in your spare time, etc) and are written so convincingly that you're salivating to sign up or buy something, only to be disappointed with what you actually get. Those are the marketers that the FTC was spurred to action by.
However, it just so happens that the wording of the new FTC guidelines is just broad enough that it DOES apply to bloggers who also write reviews of either products or destinations, and those reviews COULD potentially be influenced by some sort of compensation. So the new guidelines also require disclosure in those cases where a reader may not be aware of the compensation, but should be.
I wrote a post explaining the new FTC guidelines here, I recommend that everyone read it before December 1st.
http://www.travel-writers-exchange.com/2009/11/ftc-site-compliance-blogger-disclosure-guidelines/
Posted 2 years ago #
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