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Welcome to the liveblog of the BlogHer '10 panel: Professional: The FTC Guidelines: After A Year, Has Anything Changed? Click here for more info.
The speakers for this panel are:
BlogHer's co-founder and CEO, Lisa Stone
Marketer Susan Getgood
Blogger Kimberly Coleman
Stacey Ferguson from the FTC
Lisa Stone is welcoming the group to the FTC discussion. "This is the easiest thing we talk about," she says sarcastically.
One of the goals at the founding of BlogHer was to bring credibility to blogging.
Stacy Ferguson, FTC:
The FTC endorsement guides became final last December. Prior to that, we had a year period where we had draft guidelines out for public comment.
The point of the guides is to ensure that there is no deception in advertising, to provide transparency to consumers.
This is an update to exisiting guidelines. They provide new guidelines in regards to social media.
There are no fines for violating the guides. It is NOT true that bloggers can be fined.
They are a guide to help consumers, endorsers and brands.
The main takeaway for bloggers is to be sure you're being transparent. Be sure your readers understand your connection to the brand, if you have one.
If someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, I tried this really great yogurt, and you should try it," you're going to assume that her personal opinion. If you are being paid by the brand, that may not be as authentic. You need to be sure your readers understand your connection, so that they can decide what weight to give your endorsement.
Susan Getgood, Blog With Integrity:
When you think about the endorsement guidelines, it's not about you, the blogger, and your ethics. It's about what the consumer understands.
Transparency is the best practice anyway, we ought to be doing it regardless of anything the FTC has done.
It's about your relationship with your readers. To me, that's more important than what the law says.
I would be standing here saying transparency is important, even if the FTC hadn't revised their guidelines.
Think about it more as valuing your relationship with your readers, more than, "I have to do it because the law says I do."
Kimberly
The thing that helped me apply the guidelines practically was to think about people who come to your blog through a Google search, and they just see that one post. They don't know you and don't know about your relationships. It's not just about your core readers, it's about others who find just one post.
I mention that I went to an event sponsored by a company, I don't feel like I need to disclose every item that was in the swag bag.
I used to think I disclosed all the time, now I realize when I look at old posts that I didn't always do it.
Stacy Ferguson:
A sitewide disclosure is not good enough; it has to be on the blog post. It doesn't have to be in a particular location; it doesn't have to be certain wording. We want it to be integrated in your voice. It doesn't have to be awkward.
I forgot to say at the beginning -- "The views expressed today are my own, they don't reflect the views of my employer."
Question from the audience (from Liz Gumbiner):
Is there any intent to regular print magazines and other traditional media?
Stacy:
They always have been regulated by the guidelines. Traditional media always had to follow the same guidelines. The difference is it's all about audience understanding. It is generally understood by the audience that traditional media is getting products to review for free. It's generally understood that people covering the Oscars are getting in for free.
Question from the Audience:
What about product placement in stores. What if I go to a tire store and I don't know that employees are being paid on that particular day to push a certain brand of tires, even if it's not best for me?
Stacy:
I think consumers typically understand that.
Susan:
When you're going into a sale situation, it's your responsibility to be skeptic. The difference with bloggers is that these are people you feel you've gotten to know and trust. You don't have a relationship like that with the guy at the tire store.
Stacy:
An endorsement from our perspective is when someone is giving you a personal recommendation for a product and you need to disclose the relationship. When you go to a tire store, you know the employees have a connection to that store and that brand.
Question from the audience:
What about recommendations from an expert, like
