Social Media Report Anticipated FTC Action on "Blogola"

iBreakfast’s March Social Media Report Anticipated FTC Action on Blogola

According to the FTC in a story reported in BusinessWeek, bloggers who get paid for mentioning products – sometimes known as Blogola – will become subject to their scrutiny.

For those of you who took the time to attend or read the iBreakfast’s Social Media Council Report, you’ll know that not only did we discuss this issue, but we described its resolution as an essential part of the Social Media Economy – providing of course, that it was transparent.

More than that, there are various degrees of blogola – from free product usage to our right payment and control over the actual content - and we should be able to rate that so the reader knows.

The main point is that if we establish an open, transparent system, we help everyone. But someone has to establish the ground rules and they have to be implemented.

My guess is that we’d all hate the FTC to be the ones to do this (just look how hard the banks are trying to pay off the TARP so they can get the government off their backs). But can we, as an industry, do it ourselves? WOMMA and Blog Council have guidelines but who really

Share your thoughts with us – maybe we’ll be the ones to take on this quixotic effort!