Nice post, I agree that there is still too much confusion about how blogging as seen as. In India atleast, blogging is not considered journalism. We are still a lot behind in that.

On a more general scale: I think now the internet is out of infancy, those who add value to their visitors will be the ones left in the next ten years, as opposed to those who leech from their visitors.

It will never be perfect but I do agree that the blogging community is largely self regulating, and if you are promoting subpar products on your own site you might as well be ripping it down. I look forward to the community becoming more and more self regulating as time goes on.

I will not write anything that I know to be untrue even if I am writing in the name of the client (although, to my knowledge, my clients have all been honest with me) but I will write what the client tells me is true, even if I have not verified the stated facts independently, because I am writing on behalf of the client and
there has to be some trust.

I also optimise copy on clients’ websites. In some cases, this may be just moving or replacing words without changing the meaning of the message but, even so, if I feel something is not quite right, I feel duty-bound to bring it to the client’s attention, even though I’m not sure where I would stand legally (UK) if I ignored it.

It’s personal integrity versus greed and with some bloggers the result will be compromise. Good writers will try to put themselves in the place of the readers and be honest with themselves.

Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the
trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade,
business, craft or profession, or falsely representing
oneself as a consumer.
A second-hand car dealership puts a used car on a nearby
road and displays a handwritten advertisement reading
‘One careful owner. Good family run-around. £2000 or
nearest offer. Call Jack on 01234 56789’. The sign gives the
impression that the seller is not selling as a trader, and
hence this would breach the CPRs.

Blogging can be a hobby so if commerce is involved this has to be disclosed, in the same way if you ran Google Ads on your blog this would be disclosed to your readers. The company that has approached you, and you as the publisher would be breaking these regulations if a consumer changed what they bought on account of your blog and you had ommitted to disclose the commercial relationship you had with the company.

The risk with bloggers equating themselves with journalists is that a reporter working on a newspaper earns a salary and they are paid that salary irrespective of what they write about. There is no financial benefit from writing about certain products as journalists are not paid based on what actions readers take having read their editorial. This is why newspapers investigate stories that may stop a company trading or lead to products being banned, something which would be difficult to do as a business if you were only paid if readers bought the products you wrote about. Newspapers have codes of conduct about not writing about companies that you have a financial interest in, for example the Guardian code bans its journalists from starting a story about any company with which they have a financial interest. Newspapers sell space to advertisers and this performs the function of selling to readers. The Daily Mail separates the commercial function entirely from the editorial team and this division goes right the way to Paul Dacre.

The first question is are you and your blog American based? The FTC rules only cover American blogs.

The second question is whether what Greenlight are offering fits with your blog – is it completely off subject and how will you readership react?

The third question is one for you – will it alter the integrity of what you are doing and will it make you feel conflicted? If so it will rapidly become a lot less enjoyable.

I wouldn’t worry too much about regulations at this stage, but instead think about what is right for you and your blog.

Thanks

Thanks for the interesting article. I found this post while searching Google for something related to my below query (after reading news about the new “guidelines” I felt I needed to dig deeper).

I’ve been running a blog for some time now but I am only recently receiving requests from companies who want to pay me for advertising their content. I haven’t yet taken any of them up on the offer, but the most recent offer is rather lucrative. However, it’s been made clear to me by the company who wants to advertise that I can’t include any mention that their link and advertisement can’t be listed as “Sponsored” or other.

Would this be breaking the new guidelines and could I face any sanction if I accept their offer?

I’ve done some research on the company who contacted me (Greenlight Search) and they seem to be fairly reputable with ‘biggish’ clients – so I assume they either are not taking note of the FTC or are unfamiliar with their announcement.

Regards,

Tony