Chuck's Blog

Us bloggers pretty much have it made. We write our opinion about something and don’t really have to worry about the cost of the medium used to distribute it. Sure, 30$ USD per month is still a little bit of a bill for hosting services, but most bloggers have a solution to this: Advertising.

Back in June I wrote a post about how the FTC was starting to pay attention to blogger freebies. (Basically compensation for posts) Well, their threat wasn’t idle. According to this article, bloggers (in the U.S.) now must abide by one simple guideline for sponsored/compensated posts: Disclosure. And not a simple note in the middle of the article, but as stated by a official in the FTC “clear and conspicuous.”

The problem I still see with this is how one would define “clear and conspicuous,” because if no one has a solid definition for it than bloggers could be at risk. Lets hope the FTC clarifies this a bit soon before things possibly go bad.

Hmm. This doesn’t look good. According to this cnet news posting, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is planning to crack down on bloggers who review or promote products in return for freebies or payments. This would basically put bloggers who do not provide full 100% idiot-proof discloser in hot water.

“But some bloggers, the AP article mentioned, are concerned that the FTC’s efforts could go too far, possibly generating probes into posts that were written without any compensation, and possibly leading bloggers to post with more restraint.”

This would be my primary worry too. Sometimes when I find a product or service in the technical field to be of the highest quality I, well, blog about it. And no, it’s not really for the company’s benefit. In most cases its just me, another everyday consumer trying to help other consumers out. And plus, if I write a sponsored post I make sure to disclose how I’m being compensated, just so the reader has the ability to take my entire post with a grain of salt if they so desire to.

Another thing to note: Not all bloggers are American, and therefore not all bloggers can be controlled by the FTC. I’m interested in seeing how they determine a post is being compensated for, as I personally beleive there is no perfect way to do so.

But you have to give the FTC credit for at least thinking about trying this out, because it may help in the long run when it comes to those blogs that are run for 100% profit and have no origionality to them being shut down.