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Posts Tagged ‘blog’

Commerce and Self

April 29th, 2010
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Wordpress tattooWhat happens when someone learns you’re a blogger and then offers you something to write about? What if that thing they offer has commercial value? What if they’re offering it to you for free, asking you (express or implied) for a favorable review on your blog? Would you do it? Does that act change you?

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission says that if you accept things of value (cash, goods, services), you must disclose it in your review. In a news release, FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements, the FTC states, in part,

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.

How does this work (or not) in real life?

There are two people I know who rarely blog or tweet about anything they haven’t benefited by (directly or indirectly). Their disclosures are hidden if included at all. Does that make them sneaky or dishonest? Not necessarily, but probably (according to the FTC statement above).

Compare: Someone who is very good at promotion, and who loves helping people and companies understand how to use different “social media” tools to help with their commercial outreach efforts. This is clear to everyone who meets her. She discloses her connections and endorsements, and is hired by companies wishing to learn how to be more social.

Current communication tools–including those referred to as “social media”–allow us to blur the lines between our opinions and reviews. When someone does something nice for us, we might spontaneously and publicly say thanks (via a wall post on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter). If someone gives us something with a shared expectation that we’ll say something nice about them, that’s covered under FTC guidelines. “Oh, you’re blogging about our restaurant? The manager says the dessert is on the house.” Who will know? Maybe nobody, but it’s more than your reputation that you’re risking.

Coaching moment: Do you become a different person, all bubbly and joy, when someone does something nice for you? I bet; most of us do. What about when someone does something nice but then advises you how much it’s going to cost? (“Nothing is really free,” and all that.) Not so bubbly and joy, this more manipulative and generally undesirable.

So where’s the trade-off? What goods and services would you happily engage in a social conversation about–because you love the company or their stuff, with our without getting anything free in return? What goods, services, or companies would you feel like you’d be selling your soul to promote? How much are you willing to “leave out” of a review because of free stuff? Where is your bottom line?

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Digital Identity and PodCamp Hawaii

November 12th, 2008
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Last month Hawaii saw it’s first PodCamp/WordCamp. Roxanne Darling of Bare Feet Studios rallied an amazing line-up of sponsors. Over 400 people (including some representing their businesses) came to learn from a diverse and talented group of speakers, who were talking about WordPress and blogging, tweeting, Podcasting (video and audio-casting), Social Media, and Business Uses of these concepts.

What does this have to do with identity?

Everything. The tools we learned about are all tools for self-expression. The Web, audio and video are tools to help us show and explain the world that we are part of. They give voice to the beautiful, the ironic, the funny, and the learning parts of life. We have the power, expanded by these tools, to share our own stories.

What did PodCamp Hawaii have to do with business?

Everything.

Businesses have an identity and express themselves too. Marketers call the business identity a “brand,” and protect it with intellectual property laws (copyrights, trademarks, etc.). Sounds so cold, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t have to be. Businesses can (and many do) use social media tools to express themselves in a more personal way with their clients and customers. Businesses are “reaching out” and learning to interact. Just like any learning process, some are better at this than others. It takes practice.

Coaching moment: we use language to show or withhold respect for others. Before your business engages in using new tools, check your language and metaphor defaults: have you “won” your customers because of “successful campaigns” on the marketing “battlefield?” Or have you welcomed your customers to help make your business successful? The former is closed and hostile. The latter opens doors for all kinds of beneficial conversations.

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