Further proving the significance of the blog, the FTC will now start keeping an eye on blogs which review various products over the internet.
Blogging, a word once not recognized by Microsoft’s spell check, has become a powerful marketing tool, as well as source of information for consumers. Today, society turns to blogs for everything from personal health advice, to whether or not it would be a good idea to buy an iPhone.
Because anyone with an internet connection and a pulse can have a blog, the amount of information available on the “blogosphere” is immense. This leads to a vast amount of inaccurate information, and opens the doors for companies to push some under the table cash to a prominent blogger in return for favorable blog entries.
According to a CNET article the FTC would bring bloggers under guidelines that ban deceptive or unfair business practices. This refers to bloggers who accept free gifts, and even include the practice of affiliate links--for example, a music blogger who links to a song on Amazon MP3 or iTunes that earns an affiliate commission in the process, or a product review that will link to the website where it can be purchased.
Some companies have sprung up around the whole notion of blogger compensation and giveaways. An associated press article discusses companies that do business by offering free blogger incentives. This practice dangerously blurs the line between sales and reviews, and can prove to be a pandemic to the blogging world if left unchecked.
Think what the consequences would be if a newspaper were to base its content on the companies has advertisement deals with; public outcry and FTC regulations would have it shut down in a heartbeat. Cases like this can seriously hurt the blogging world, and take away the beauty of having unbiased opinions from average people in the same situation as readers.
For the sake of the blog, let’s hope the word doesn’t become synonymous with the backhanded marketing tactics it appears to be attracting.
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