Open The Dialogue

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Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen-in on a webinar being presented by WOMMA about Ethics and Endorsements on today’s web.  Specifically, discussion surrounding best practices for disclosure (summary of reactions).  With the FTC’s regulations pending, the panel kicked-off WOMMA’s efforts to create an industry-wide set of standards and defenitions for marketers and communication professionals when it comes to disclosing brand involvement, affiliation, compensation, etc.

It was a solid panel and discussion presented by several big voices – John Bell, Jory Des Jardin, Sean Corcoran, Tom Collinger and Anthony DiResta.  Most of the discussion surrounded how different parties would approach disclosure – mainly marketers & brands vs. publishers.  Each panelist was able to offer unique perspective in relation to their background – especially POV from Mr. Collinger & DiResta, who spoke about the actual definitions and legal fortitude of disclosure.  Building legal language standards and definite explicit points of view for disclosure can help clarify confusion – especially for the consumer who, often, don’t have the history and background about a relationship a marketer or publisher has when they first click on that link.

John Bell was able to kick-off the panel with several practical points of advice for brands and influencers to work with whenever entering into a relationship where editorial opinion could be affected:

• Create terms of engagement for both parties – being clear and explicit about the terms of the program, make them public as well.
• Official agreement promising true opinion – to protect both the publisher, brand and most importantly, the reader.
• Disclosure execution – explicit explanations per post and on the greater property (i.e. blog, Twitter, etc.)
• Stick to your guns – show your readers that these set of ethics permeate throughout by adding notes in bio sections and aligning with organizations like Blog With Integrity or WOMMA

Jory and BlogHer’s standards for disclosure represented the best tactical examples on the panel but I think the true publisher voice was missing.  What about the people writing these posts and running these blogs?  Their perspective would’ve added valuable context to this discussion.  Certainly, how an author wants to and does handle affiliation on their property is a necessary piece to include when discussing relationships between brands and those whom they’re trying to influence (both the publisher and the publisher’s audience).

Since the webinar and sitting down to write this post I’ve had several healthy discussions with people who are both close and far from this subject.  With signs pointing towards sponsored conversations, how does that affect the value of engagement?  My colleague Laura and I would argue that outright sponsorship, even with proper disclosure, devalues a brand’s participation ROI.  In theory, an influencer’s audience is engaged for reasons that a sponsored conversation can’t support.  I’m most likely reading someone else’s blog because I value their opinion or perspective.  When I find out that they’re being paid to express such – credibility is lost (regardless of negative or positive opinion).

A full summary will eventually be live on WOMMA’s Ethics Review blog but, in the meantime, how do you feel about disclosure?  What are your standards?

What Small Businesses Should Do Today Online

Chris Brogan outlines some of the basic things small businesses should do online.  While they are quite obvious to us in the space, it is still important to understand that small businesses may be averse to using the medium based on fears and misunderstandings.  Brogan’s recommendations are simple and he also provides justification for why small businesses should use/implement them.  Hit the link to find out what they are.

Brands and Facebook Lite

Facebook’s new Lite version does away with apps and pages and many other features that are so essential to brands.  This may spell doom for brands but David Berkowitz provides two reasons why it shouldn’t.

1. Over 90% of home internet users connect over broadband.  Because of this, they can afford the feature-rich regular Facebook site.
2. Users who try the Lite version will miss key Facebook features such as instant messaging and apps.

The Effects of Twitter’s New TOS

The new Twitter TOS is already having an effect on the experience resulting in fewer bots, squatters and imposters.  These are just a few of the ten profile types that will go missing.  Some of these are important to keep in mind in how client profiles can interact with the public on the system without being booted.

Is Social Media a Fad or Revolution?

(by way of Econsultancy)

5 Ways Banks are Using Social Media

This article shows how different financial institutions are using social media to achieve one of the five goals listed below.

1. Community Building
2. Product Research
3. Customer Service
4. Marketing & Promotion
5. Transparency

Facebook Introduces @ Tagging in Updates

Facebook finally adds the ability to tag your friends in your updates a feature that is common to Twitter.  While it has allowed this feature in photos, the addition of this feature will certainly bring Twitter’s appeal to Facebook.  The roll out of Facebook Lite is another step in that direction.

Twitter + Mixx = Tweetmixx

How do you find great content without having to follow thousands of people on Twitter? Tweetmixx helps search what is important such as links that are being shared the most or messages that are being retweeted the most all while filtering out the irrelevant babble in between.

Is Big Brother watching your back?  That’s what a new bill that is being assembled in the House is supposed to do as Congress takes a new look at  web privacy.

Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and Internet is currently putting together the bill designed to federally regulate how websites collect information from consumers.  According  to the post by RedOrbit.com, Boucher says that the goal “is make people more likely to trust electronic commerce and the Internet.” Considering the recent explosion in social networking and mobile web use seems like this regulation is one that we could all use, right?

Of course the problem could be that without the ability to track and serve up just the right ads to consumers, online advertising could quickly shrivel and die. While I wouldn’t mind getting rid of a majority of the annoying ads I see everyday, the fact remains that a majority of the web is supported by advertising.  If we removed that building-block, its seems possible that a lot of sites could come crashing down.

So how are we going protect our web privacy?  It looks like the debate will boil down to four different philosophies.

1. The Opt-In Approach- The preferred option of the privacy watchdogs, like The Center for Democratic Democracy, this web privacy tactic would ask each consumer if the site can track their actions, kind of like how some computer programs work.  While privacy would stay safe, opponents argue that this would be ultra-annoying to consumers.
2. The Opt-Out Approach- Online advertising would love to see this one work. Rather than an opt-in screen, each site must offer the consumer the chance to opt-out. The question remains if consumers would actually know where and why they should take this privacy shield.
3. The Tiered Solution- Boucher suggests that the best way to protect your data might be forcing different sites to play by different rules.  Sites that deal with health information for instance might have to go through a more secure process that your local newspaper’s site.  What stands to question here is how quickly can sites be properly categorized and vetted? More importantly to the social media community is with sites today quickly moving to a networked approach through things like Facebook Connect, which sites are going to need to protect us the most? It could vary based on use!
4. Self-Regulation- As the current model for securing your internet privacy, self-regulation was only adopted by major web advertisers in July as a way to combat this bill.  According to the full report, the regulations are built to protect the concerns of the public relating to their privacy in issues of  Education, Transparency, Consumer Control, Data Security, Material Changes, Sensitive Data and Accountability. With the way the web moves, this may be our best bet. But then again who watches the self-regulating watchmen?

Do you think this bill could affect online advertising? What option would your prefer to protect your privacy?

Here are some “back-to-school” links of note from Twitter & FriendFeed.  Later this week we’ll be publishing a handy guide for things you can do to start the “school year” off right.

• Facebook Adding Stream Clicks to Page Insights – no individual clicks just yet, but we’re getting there.  This is certainly an important metric to have.

• SEO lessons from Google News – insight from Google themselves on how items for Google News are ranked.  Important from a PR POV when helping clients craft news and announcements.

• MSNBC acquires EveryBlock – first Newsvine, now EB (a major player in the hyperlocal news/aggregation world).  Some pretty interesting moves.

• Google and their systems – Domestic Trends gives us a cool way to analyze economic data and now PageRank helps scientists study ecosystems.

• WordPress.com becomes real-time – RSS muscles back on to the scene and now millions of blogs can push their updates into the social web.  Pretty big step in terms of tech with a lot more, I’m sure, to come.