1. Plug Away:
Disclosure of material connections
in social media channels
David Kamerer, PhD, APR
Loyola University Chicago
Follow me on Twitter @davidkamerer

2. Organic content
or
commercial?

10. Disclosure of material connections
16 CFR Part 255
“Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and
Testimonials in Advertising”
Resource:
FTC “dot-com” disclosures guide
http://1.usa.gov/cScCMo

11. Failure to disclose is not new
Payola
In-program selling
Product placements in film/TV

12. Ann Taylor
FTC: it is the
advertiser’s
responsibility to assure
disclosure, not the
blogger’s

13. Legacy Learning Systems
$5 million
sales
$250,000
fine

14. Reverb Communications memo:
Reverb employs a small team of interns who are focused on managing
online message boards, writing influential game reviews, and keeping
a gauge on the online communities. Reverb uses the interns as a
sounding board to understand the new mediums where consumers are
learning about products, hearing about hot new games and listen to
the thoughts of our targeted audience. Reverb will use these interns
on Developer Y products to post game reviews (written by Reverb
staff members) ensuring the majority of the reviews will have the key
messaging and talking points developed by the Reverb PR/marketing
team.

15. Online, ads don’t work

16. http://bit.ly/OzkFr1

17. Typical response rates
Targeted email 5.00%
Direct mail 3.00%
Rich media 0.14%
Banner ad 0.08%
The failure of outbound
tactics
Source: Ad Age, 2010

18. How are blogs funded?
• No funding – hobby
• Banner ads
• Search ads (Google AdSense)
• Affiliate programs
• Pay per post
• Free goods & services
Rarely: ecommerce, memberships

21. The advertiser’s view:
•No one looks at/clicks on banners
•Bloggers have negotiable standards
•It’s easy to purchase influence

22. The blogger’s view:
•Not making much from ads
•Eager to monetize site
•Open for business
•Rationalization:
“I received X from Y”
“But the opinions are my own”

23. Two inquiries:
1.Study of top style blogs
2.Examination of celebrity Twitter feeds

24. Method, style blog inquiry:
1.Sampling frame: top style blogs as curated by
Signature9.com
2.Only U.S. blogs included, N = 68
3.Rubric:
PageRank (scored 0-10)
Link score (0-10)
Unique IP links (0-15)
Alexa rank (0-15)
Twitter score (0-10)
Facebook domain activity (0-15)
Google blog links (0-15)

26. Results: many revenue streams

27. Tracking software shows
ad relationships
Average of 14 tracking services on style blogs
•Analytics
•Share buttons
•Third-party ad networks
(source: Ghostery plug-in)
At left, tracking software from
the blog LoveMaegan

28. Almost three-fourths of the sample
did not disclose in-post

29. Examples of in-post disclosures

30. Not quite a disclosure: c/o (“courtesy of”)
In-
post
Site
State-
ment

44. Influencers/Advertisers
• Always disclose, even if in doubt
• Only work with ethical influencers
• Also use a site statement, linked on home page
• Goal: to avoid consumer confusion
• FTC dot-com disclosures http://1.usa.gov/cScCMo
Consumers
• Media literacy
• Understand the ad-supported (free) web
• Search engines are complicit

45. For more information:
http://davidkamerer.com
(search for “corruption”)
http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/disclosure
http://delicious.com/davidkamerer/corruption
On Twitter:
@davidkamerer
Email:
david@davidkamerer.com
Thank you!