Never, Ever Disrespect Your Readers

I’ve come to the conclusion that a significant number of bloggers disrespect their readers.

What I mean is that they will write something for public consumption, but in the back of their minds they really aren’t concerned about what their readers think. Specifically, the information that they’ve shared is sloppily written, poorly researched or just plain wrong.

FTC Fights Back

Perhaps the best example of this practice is something that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is in the process of addressing: paid endorsements. You know, those infomercials designed to pass as objective product reviews, while offering nothing more than gushy praise of a product.

The blogger may think that he can pull a fast one, but adept readers know when they’re being played for a fool. Importantly, federal employees working for the FTC know what is going on and will soon be threatening to fine advertisers – and may go after bloggers too. Look for the same sort of “snitch brigade” on the level of that which was formed by Google to rat out paid text link peddlers to emerge.

But why wait for a government mandate to change the way that you blog?

I’m not against produce endorsements as I do them myself. However, I always tell my readers when a product has been supplied for my review. Furthermore, if compensation is given beyond the supplied sample, I share those details too.

It isn’t possible for every supplied product to receive your highest grade. If you regularly gush praise for each product reviewed, then you diminish your value as an objective reviewer. People will know that you can be bought which means that your review will be ignored.

Worse, if you regularly review products and offer the same bland positive pitch your audience will disappear. Sure, your chorus of followers will remain, but that’s because they’re doing the same thing that you’re doing – disrespecting their readers.

Honest Reviews…Please!

I no longer visit blogs which regularly run product reviews and which aren’t being honest with their readers. No, I don’t usually challenge the blogger directly, finding that their excuses do nothing to remedy the problem.

I’m not the only one who takes dishonest reviewers to task. Esther Schindler offers excellent tips in her article, “How to Write a Product Review,” which outlines three (four) questions which reviewers should ask when writing an article:

• What does the product promise?
• How well does it achieve those goals?
• Is it a good value? for whom?

Schindler offers sound advice on how to construct a review, no matter its length.  I appreciate her advice that it is “…the reader who matters, and ultimately it’s only the reader who matters.” If you’re writing for the advertiser or for yourself, then your review misses the mark. People want an honest review – do not try to fool them!

FTC Rules

I’ve written this article on the heels of the FTC’s announcement last week that they were cracking down on paid endorsements. I mentioned that the FTC has “…yet to issue guidelines on how bloggers must disclose paid endorsements,” but Mihaela (Mig) Lica responded by offering a link to an eighty-one page FTC document – Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. No, I haven’t read it yet, but I will do so as I formulate my own product review policy going forward.

I have mixed thoughts about the FTC getting involved, not liking government involvement all that much while understanding that the same restrictions long imposed on print media probably should apply to the internet as well.

What is unfortunate is that some bloggers aren’t willing to police themselves even when their audience tunes them out. That the federal government has to take action is indicative of where we’re at – in need of some sort of oversight to correct blogging deficiencies.

Photo Credit: Billy Ruth

Regulating Blogging, One Step At A Time

Yesterday, Anthony Kirlew (thanks!) forwarded to me an article which outlined the Federal Trade Commissions (FTC) plans to regulate blogging by fining bloggers who don’t disclose their paid endorsements. As much as I think that full disclosure is important, the proposed US$11,000 per violation fine is way over the top. After all, most bloggers receive chump change for their endorsements, a little extra spending money to help them pay their bills.

Not So Clear

The new rules, which will take effect on December 1, 2009, aren’t all that clear at the moment. The FTC (thank you, Laura Spencer!) has yet to issue guidelines on how bloggers must disclose paid endorsements though “clear and conspicuous” notification must be present. Likely, that will mean some sort of badge included with each review or perhaps something similar to how newspapers currently run “Paid Advertising” notices across the top of their pages when an advertorial is included.

Before you panic, the FTC has indicated that they are more likely to go after the advertiser than the blogger. At risk are those large blogs whose business is substantial and who has been warned previously by the FTC to “cease and desist” such practice. Still, a chill went through the blogosphere on Monday when the first announcements surfaced.

Bye, Bye Internet?

The FTC ruling follows closely on the heels of a decision made by the US government late last month to relax some of its control over the internet through ICANN. A US invention, the internet has spread worldwide which means that far more people using the internet live outside of the US than in it. On the surface this appears to be a solid move, but by opening up internet control to other countries, including those hostile to freedom of speech, that move could lead to content being regulated down the line.

For instance, if you have a Christian site where you espouse that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of the world, people in Islamic lands and elsewhere might object, perhaps shutting down your site or at least limiting its exposure. Right now, China, Vietnam and a host of dictatorial and religious freedom inhibiting countries heavily control web content. Might ceding control of the internet make it more likely that censorship will eventually become widespread? I believe that it would.

Blogging Interlude

Back during the 1990s when blogging emerged as the online journalists dream come true, I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the blogosphere, preferring to connect with people via forums and chat rooms. When I finally decided to blog on a steady basis, that was in 2004 and the blogging world was rapidly maturing. WordPress quickly became the de facto blog platform for people who wanted to control their own sites, putting aside its well known growing pains to become a force to be reckoned with.

Yet, I’ve long felt that the blogosphere was a delicate resource, one that operated at the whim of those who control the internet or at least the government overseeing the same. Until the announcement that the US would cede some control of the internet to others, I didn’t think twice about my freedoms. Now, I wonder where all of this will lead and am thinking that the interlude of grass roots inspired free speech may soon pass.

I certainly hope that I’m wrong, but this latest FTC announcement does little to allay those fears. Net neutrality is another issue I’m watching, yet another change coming to the internet.

Photo Credit: Ivan Petrov