Bloggers who fail to disclose paid reviews or endorsements can face up to $11,000 fines from the Federal Trade Commission, according to a recent agency ruling " Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” that was issued in October. The news set off a wave of protest and unrest in the blogosphere and the debate goes on.

Here is an excerpt from the October 5th FTC release:

“The revised Guides add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that 'material connections' (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers–connections that consumers would not expect–must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other 'word-of-mouth' marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

No Comments »
Filed under: blogging

Blogging news stories as they unfold is one of the most
exciting and controversial applications of technology
that bloggers have discovered.

One thing that makes the blogosphere so active is the fact that it is possible to

update a blog instantaneously, so the news on blogs

tends to be more current than the news in the paper, or

on television. Unlike news delivered by these other

media, news that appears on blogs does not have to

travel through a series of editors and administrators

before it reaches the public eye. This has some

advantages, and some distinct disadvantages.

One of the most notable cases of news hitting a blog

No Comments »
Filed under: Internet

It Really Is Simple Rss

I have 'Googlebot' coming to my site every day since a month
ago I put up my first news feed, since then I have put up yet
another.

I never used to see 'Googlebot' much before, so it goes to show
that if you want to be noticed by the search engines, you need
to put up a 'news-feed'.

All this re-submitting to search engines every month nonsense
is just that, nonesense! I don't really think the search engines
care for you to submit to them in the first place, I think that
now they like to find your site on their own. Some pundits have
claimed that nowadays to submit your site at all to the search
engines is counter-productive and you should not do it. They
say that there is much better value in allowing the search
engines to find it via a 'link-back' from somewhere else.

No Comments »
Filed under: Internet

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It's a format that web sites and blogs can use to send updated headlines to you via services like My Yahoo!. My Yahoo! gathers the content you select from a variety of sources and displays it for you in one convenient location. Syndication means you don't have to visit each site individually to see what's new — you simply scan headlines or brief article summaries and click to read the full text. That's the "really simple" part. And it's "really simple" for publishers to make their content accessible this way too.

No Comments »
Filed under: Computers and Technology

Google's premier of desktop search proves that the desktop is an
extremely valuable marketing real estate. Google, which holds
about 75% of the Internet search market, just introduced
"Deskbar" – a small desktop application that allows users to
search Google directly from their desktops. Google currently
rules the Internet, but positioning themselves on the desktop
gives them the power to rule not only the Internet, but also the
entire personal computer.

Unlike other interactive marketing avenues, such as website and
email, the desktop is virtually free of advertisements and
promotional materials. The desktop is competitor free and just
waiting to be claimed.

No Comments »
Filed under: Internet