Culch.ie

In my opinion: Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure

Please note, this is a personal opinion piece and should not be taken to necessarily represent or reflect the views of any other contributors to or administrators of Culch.ie.

An article appeared in this week’s New York Times that has made me ridiculously happy. While it’s not something that everyone will appreciate or recognise as being important, I believe the points it raises are of extreme importance to the future of a certain type of blogging, in how both bloggers and readers engage online and it will make things that bit more interesting and honest.

In an article entitled “Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure“, journalist Tim Arango describes how “The government will seek to slow the spread of false “word of mouth” promotions in exchange for product samples.”

“I think that bloggers definitely need to be held accountable… I think there is a certain level of trust that bloggers have with readers, and readers deserve to know the whole truth.”

This is truly and completely excellent.

In short: when you read a review, find out about an event, have someone recommend something to you or hear about their experiences of something, wouldn’t you like to know if they’ve been paid to tell you what they’re telling you?

My history:

I’ve been “blogging” for almost two years now. In the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing. Well actually, I’ve been writing on this website and doing a small bit of blogging on my own and other sites. I actually believe there’s a difference between “being a blogger” and “having a blog“, much the same as “being a photographer” and “having a camera“. That may be pedantic or semantics to some, but, as I’ll try explain, it’s extremely relevant.

So I gave blogging a go to try it out and to see what I could do – mostly share stories. I came into it after the Blog Awards 2008 and tried to learn what it was. Some I did well, some not so great and up until I became ill and then subsequently employed looking after Boards.ie, I was blogging daily, sharing opinions, feedback, what I did and all that sort of thing. I’d like to think I was seen to be doing it honestly, because I tried to do so. Most of the opportunities I had came because I went to people and I asked for them. Things started to change though…

The rise of blogging in the media and PR

As I see it, two things happened in the past two years about blogs and blogging in Ireland. Firstly, the media noticed them. In one sense, they had to. Journalists were taking stories directly from them without attribution, getting paid for them while the blogger got nothing. This started to change with bloggers calling foul on their own blogs and in letters to the newspapers and editors.

So blogs became the “new thing” (almost the way Twitter and Google Wave are now) and all of a sudden these bloggers (or residents of Blogopolis, as Ryan Tubridy called them) were on the radio, quoted in newspapers, linked to in weekly articles and generally recognised, which must have come as some amusement to the bloggers who had been getting on with it for years.

Add to that the bloggers who became known for having book deals and the relative ease of setting up blogspot and wordpress.com blogs and a bigger blogging scene emerged.

Finally add in blog aggregation sites like IrishBlogs.ie, events getting more coverage like the Blog Awards and then bigger, more high profile blogs (the radio stations and shows who got them, the magazines, the group blogs) and a picture emerges of a blog being something that was open to everyone, and, in some cases, a personal “why don’t you have one? You’d be great. Go on, get one” (something I’m very guilty of) and so becoming more mainstream. So they became a product that companies and web developers could sell. A blog had a price and so the blogger had value.

With the rise of awareness of the blogger came the PR and Marketing people whose job it is to get their products and services out to a larger audience. Many of them didn’t know what a blog was or what a blogger was (“They do it for free? Really?”) or how to interact with them (“Here’s my press release. Write it. Have you written it yet?”) appropriately.

Yet here was an opportunity to get involved with a writer who could get a message out to a targeted audience for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising, if there was a cost at all. It ticks a lot of boxes. It wasn’t done correctly (at the time) leading to events like the blogger/PR collision course from which came very interesting comments.

My experiences now:

I suppose the more “high profile” or “connected” one gets in their work (whatever that means), the more attention they get. It certainly happens to me. Even completely independently of my job with Boards.ie, people stop me telling me they follow me on twitter, read my blog or read my stuff on Culch.

PR companies get in touch to ask questions, mostly about the right way to do things. I work with a large amount of organisations, businesses and charities and I blog about a lot of different things, because, I suppose, I have a wide range of interests. I also am someone who is willing to share learning and advice and haven’t been told I’m talking complete rubbish yet – at length certainly, but not awful stuff.

I’m watching and reading blogs and I see the posts that a PR company has been in touch about, mostly because I was contacted about the same thing. It happens a lot with Culch.ie – many of the interviews I’ve had, the competitions I’ve arranged and the advanced notice I get of events have been through contacts I’ve made in PR companies or in the marketing departments of organisations. I get invitations to launches, press passes for events (digital media, don’t you know), interview opportunities and review tickets, as well as competition prize offers for readers. I’ve worked on a lot of events: Guinness 250, the Carlsberg Comedy Festival, certain film previews, concerts in the Concert Hall and all sorts of things. Why? Because it’s my passion I suppose. I like to help people find out about things.

The truth is though, I’m often out of pocket as well after them. I travel to meet people. I spend time I could be doing something else at events. I sacrifice watching something for recording it, for being able to tell you about it better. Yes, completely my choice, but also something I’m proud that I can do, to whatever ability.

The New York Times article:

FOR nearly three decades, the Federal Trade Commission’s rules regarding the relationships between advertisers and product reviewers and endorsers were deemed adequate. Then came the age of blogging and social media.

On Monday, the F.T.C. said it would revise rules about endorsements and testimonials in advertising that had been in place since 1980. The new regulations are aimed at the rapidly shifting new-media world and how advertisers are using bloggers and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to pitch their wares.

The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently.

Richard Cleland, assistant director of the division of advertising practices at the F.T.C., said: “We were looking and seeing the significance of social media marketing in the 21st century and we thought it was time to explain the principles of transparency and truth in advertising and apply them to social media marketing. Which isn’t to say that we saw a huge problem out there that was imperative to address.”

Isn’t that brilliant? What I take from that is that if I’m reading a US blog talking about a product, event or service, I must disclose my connection with that company or organisation so that the readers of my blog know this before taking what I say at face value.

The new guidelines were not unexpected — the commission gave notice last November that it would take up the matter. They will affect scores of bloggers who began as hobbyists only to find that companies flocked to them in search of a new way to reach consumers.

Personally, I think that’s important. I want someone’s honest opinion. No shilling, no paid for reviews, nothing but the truth.

The industry has always worked like this. Journalists were and are bombarded with offers from PR companies. DJs get advance copies of albums to review, film reviewers see films before everyone else. PR people have always been involved in the middle, bringing the news of what a company does to a wider audience and getting people to talk about it. It just so happens that these people are bloggers now.

There is an important feature of what I do though that, though I’m not advocating it for anyone else, I feel is important for my “professional” integrity as a blogger – I tell people where I got things from and how I did. If I’m at an event that I blog about, I’ll thank the organisers for the invitation or tickets. If I interview someone, I’ll thank the PR company who arranged it. If I arrange a competition in conjunction with an event or brand, I’ll tell you who it is.

I don’t get paid for these things, except by way of opportunity. I will try share that opportunity with others if I can. I think it’s important that you, as a reader of something I write, know that I’m telling you about it, not only because I got asked to tell you about it, but because I want to tell you about it too. I don’t get paid to write what I write about.

I’m often asked if I ever write negative blog posts about events. The truth is I try not to, simply because if I hated something, then it’s not worth writing about. It rarely happens. I’m either lucky or I’m easy to please but the only things coming to mind are one show in Fringe, a recent play in the Abbey and Transformers 2 that I walked out of thinking it was a waste of time. However, that’s just me. Actually, it’s not. Loads of other people I know are exactly the same.

and that’s very very important there – LOADS OF OTHER PEOPLE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. I’m in no way unique in this.

The transparency that is coming in to the USA really has to follow here. Why? Well now I’m seeing a value being put on reviews, on posts, even on tweets. “If you do this, we’ll give you that.” “If you give me this, I’ll write that about your product/service”.

Where will the transparency be and how will the bloggers who do things transparently distinguish themselves (or separate themselves) from those who do it for money? There’s a big difference between the two groups. It’s that line of “My opinion or feedback is – or isn’t – available to buy.“

There’s a current round of “blogger outreach evenings” that everyone seems to be getting into. I know because I attend many, about half as many as I’m invited to. Some I have no idea why I’m there, some I’m delighted to be. It’s an interesting one but I see that coming to an end too when PR people and companies see the difference in cultivating a relationship with a blogger and providing them with exclusive, relevant and targeted content for their blog that interests them and their readers and the price of food, drink and the expense of setting something up to attract people with a blog who may or may not provide coverage or even be interested or is just there to be there. I know if I was a brand manager, I’d be looking for a return on my investment.

Fine, you may say, they have unlimited budgets and this is built into the cost, but ultimately, where’s the value for the company, the client or the blogger? It won’t make any more people read the blog, buy the product, visit the website or see the movie or play, will it? At least with a clear understanding between the blogger and the PR/marketing company, you can see the value on the investment. I’m a huge advocate for sharing stats on readership, on click thrus and on “this many people interacted with your company because of me”. That’s the value. Because that means not that you’re a successful blogger, but that people trust your opinion, and that, to me has far more value.

Companies being approached by “professional bloggers” or people who’ll represent them or their products and services on blogs and on twitter or Facebook for payment really need to take notice of this. They need to know exactly who they’re hiring, what their social status (or whuffie) is, what their reputation is, if they’re respected, if they’re trusted and if they know what they’re talking about. Markham Nolan’s Public service video is doing the rounds at the moment – I’ll post it at the bottom – and it’s more than just something funny – it’s something PR people, Marketing people and companies really need to be asking. What value am I really getting? Is this going to be worth the cost. Are more people going to find out about my product, service, charity, company, event or whatever because of how this person represents me? Can I do it better myself?

Why *I’m* interested in this:

Going back to my original point about “having a blog” or “being a blogger” – I’m known as a blogger, even though I’d just say that I “have a blog”. What I don’t want to be known as is a blogger who people can pay to talk about things, or who’s doing it to enhance their own profile rather than share the information. They’re out there. We all know that. I want that trust that I have worked damn hard at to pay off. I want you to know that you can trust what I tell you because as far as I know, it’s the right thing.

I don’t want to tell people “I have a blog” for them to say “Oh, so we can pay you to pimp our stuff?” because that’s not what I do. My worry is that if people go down that road, it will impact on all the people who are doing this for the love of it, not for the price.

Opportunities are brilliant and I’m blessed to get so many from the PR companies I work with, but my opinion on them are not for sale. That’s why, in my opnion, all this transparency is brilliant. It will change the way people look at what they read, and knowing that “paper never refused ink” is no bad thing at all.

**NO individuals or companies are being bitched about, even obliquely, in this article. It is just my opinion. If you do think I might be talking negatively about you though, ask yourself why that is. If you want clarification, leave a comment below or drop me an email.**