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Tag Archives: FTC

FTC busts ADT for using bloggers to lie to you. The punishment is excellent.

The FTC announced on Thursday that it has caught ADT paying bloggers for endorsements (on blogs as well as national TV/radio) and not disclosing it. Folks, the rules and the law on social media ethics are clear, as I’ve been sharing for years. More here. In addition to ending the program, ADT will now be […]

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Ethical disclosure is ridiculously easy — learn how

We’re required to disclose any form of compensation when writing a blog post, which has led to all sorts of stresses, excuses, legal discussion, and bloviating by bloggers. It’s really easy to do proper, simple, legally-compliant disclosure: Just write a sentence at the start of each post explaining your relationship to whomever is compensating you […]

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4 key groups to train on word of mouth ethics

This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day. Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness. It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — […]

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Q&A: What the new FTC rules mean to you

Following SocialMedia.org‘s brands-only call last week on the FTC’s new disclosure rules, some folks had some follow-up questions clarifying exactly what these updates mean to them. Below are answers to the most common questions we received. Remember, I’m not a lawyer (I don’t even play one on TV). But, I have testified before Congress, traveled the […]

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New FTC rules clarify the laws on sponsored social media content

The FTC just released an update to their “.com Disclosures” guide — the biggest update on social media disclosure laws since the 2009 update to their Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, and the first update to the .com Disclosures since 2000. The biggest addition: Making it painfully clear that disclosure […]

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If your company pays for fake word of mouth, we can catch you

Paying for fake reviews and disguised blog post advertorials is wrong. It’s lying to people, plain and simple. If your company does it, you’re evil, untrustworthy, and stupid. Why risk your brand reputation and FTC prosecution for a back-alley marketing stunt? Good news: Researchers from the University of Victoria have designed and validated a detection […]

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Ethical disclosure is absurdly easy — learn how

We’re required to disclose any form of compensation when writing a blog post, which has led to all sorts of stresses, excuses, legal discussion, and bloviating by bloggers. It’s really easy to do proper, simple, legally-compliant disclosure: Just write a sentence at the start of each post explaining your relationship to whomever is compensating you […]

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How to create your social media policy

Creating a social media policy isn’t an optional part of your program, it should be the first step. And thanks to a lot of hard work and collaboration from the members of SocialMedia.org (of which I’m the CEO), this process is a lot easier. Today we’re thrilled to announce we’re releasing a completely updated edition […]

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