ICA presentation - disclosure of material connections in social media
1. Plug Away:
Disclosure of material connections
in social media channels
David Kamerer, PhD, APR
Loyola University Chicago
Follow me on Twitter @davidkamerer
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
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.
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
19.
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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”
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)
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
30. Not quite a disclosure: c/o (“courtesy of”)
In-
post
Site
State-
ment
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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!
Notas do Editor
We know what a commercial looks like.
We know what journalism is
But what about everything else?
Adly stats – Minimum ad buy: $25,000. They have worked with 150 advertisers, sending out more than 24,000 tweets. About 1000 influencers work with adly. To participate as an influencers, you must have + 150,000 followers.