Comments on: Does forced disclosure on blogger endorsements change anything for you? http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/2009/10/07/does-forced-disclosure-on-blogger-endorsements-change-anything-for-you/ London, Avant-Garde P.R. and the Pastafication of Tofu Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:29:44 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Vicky http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/2009/10/07/does-forced-disclosure-on-blogger-endorsements-change-anything-for-you/#comment-4216 Vicky Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:20:19 +0000 http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/?p=750#comment-4216 Gosh, this is a big grey area. My blog includes shout outs to products that I use and love, shout outs to sites/products that I've recieved to review and affiliate links to relevent products. Gosh, this is a big grey area.

My blog includes shout outs to products that I use and love, shout outs to sites/products that I’ve recieved to review and affiliate links to relevent products.

]]> By: Linda Forrest http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/2009/10/07/does-forced-disclosure-on-blogger-endorsements-change-anything-for-you/#comment-4177 Linda Forrest Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:17:46 +0000 http://fakeplasticnoodles.com/?p=750#comment-4177 We don't publicly endorse anything on our blog and have yet to be approached by a company to use our blog as a promotional platform, but we feel that it's important that we disclose when we're writing about a client, whether it's on our blog or through Twitter. I read recently that it's a major faux pas of PR companies like ours when they don't disclose that they're talking about clients. We've adopted this as a best practice and tried hard to be open about such things. I wrote a post the other day about the power of word of mouth and when it comes to blogs, I'd say that the best social media acts as a logical extension of word of mouth. When a blogger talks about their experiences, their readers tend to take it to heart and that will certainly influence their purchasing decisions (see the Dooce vs. Maytag incident as written up by Forbes http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/02/twitter-dooce-maytag-markets-equities-whirlpool.html) There have been times where something I've read on a personal blog has impacted my purchasing decisions, and I'd bet I'm not alone in this experience. If the post on the personal blog had really been advertorial disguised as editorial, I think I'd have a problem with that. Perhaps the penalties for not disclosing that its a paid endorsement are a bit hefty, but it's a slippery slope (see the death of the music business due to downloading) and in my opinion, it's best to nip it in the bud now rather than try to put the toothpaste back in the tube later. We don’t publicly endorse anything on our blog and have yet to be approached by a company to use our blog as a promotional platform, but we feel that it’s important that we disclose when we’re writing about a client, whether it’s on our blog or through Twitter. I read recently that it’s a major faux pas of PR companies like ours when they don’t disclose that they’re talking about clients. We’ve adopted this as a best practice and tried hard to be open about such things.

I wrote a post the other day about the power of word of mouth and when it comes to blogs, I’d say that the best social media acts as a logical extension of word of mouth. When a blogger talks about their experiences, their readers tend to take it to heart and that will certainly influence their purchasing decisions (see the Dooce vs. Maytag incident as written up by Forbes http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/02/twitter-dooce-maytag-markets-equities-whirlpool.html)
There have been times where something I’ve read on a personal blog has impacted my purchasing decisions, and I’d bet I’m not alone in this experience. If the post on the personal blog had really been advertorial disguised as editorial, I think I’d have a problem with that. Perhaps the penalties for not disclosing that its a paid endorsement are a bit hefty, but it’s a slippery slope (see the death of the music business due to downloading) and in my opinion, it’s best to nip it in the bud now rather than try to put the toothpaste back in the tube later.

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