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Building SMEs Into Thought Leaders

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New guidelines announced Monday by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will affect marketers who use blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and the like for word-of-mouth and viral campaigns.

Starting December 1, the FTC says that a blogger who endorses a product must disclose whether he or she received money, gifts, or any type of compensation from the product's manufacturer, seller, or a third party connected in some way to the product. Individuals who comment about a product on Twitter or Facebook are required to disclose the same connections.

From the FTC's news release (Oct. 5):

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that "material connections" (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers—connections that consumers would not expect—must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other "word-of-mouth" marketers. 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.

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FTC Requires Bloggers to Come Clean

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