BlogWorld Takeaways 2/5: FTP Sponsored Conversations

This is part 2 in a 5 part series documenting my takeaways from Blogworld 2009.

A popular topic at Blogworld this year was the upcoming FTC regulations on sponsored conversations. Jeremiah Owyang led a passionate group of panelists discussing the repercussions of the FTC regulations.

For those of you who aren’t aware, the FTC issued very controversial guidelines for bloggers that forced them to disclose any sponsored conversation that happens under their direction, effective December 2009.

Primarily two issues have bloggers up in arms:

(1) The lack of clarity in defining a sponsored conversation

a. This could included anything from tradeshow swag to free T-shirts. Every tweet, status update, and post ought to include a disclaimer of some sort that indicates a conversation was sponsored, regardless of whether or not you would have written about that product anyway.
b. Literally, anything can be a sponsored conversation: a tweet, a status update, a comment, and most certainly a blog post.

(2) The double standard that exists when compared with how Traditional media operates

a. pay to play has existed in Radio, Television, and Print for a very long time.
b. celebrities endorse products all the time without disclosing whether or not they were paid to do so

Jeremiah asked the crowd to raise their hands if they were in support of sponsored conversations. To my surprise, over 60% of the room raised their hand; which is an evident switch from years passed. Bloggers have always maintained their unique value proposition was staying above the fray, and not muddying the waters of advertising and editorial. We are seeing the tides changing a bit; and bloggers seem to be comfortable with disclosing their monetary motivation for running a blog.

The increasing shift in bloggers making money from their work, certainly makes this conversation more pertinent.

The general consensus was that the FTC will never be able to police the use of sponsored conversations in blogging. The new law become more of a gesture, than an iron fist; yet pro-bloggers still need to think about what their disclaimer and disclosures read.

The IAB is not happy about the new regulations and plans to lead a movement to appeal the FTC decision.

Personally, I think this is a classic case of government overstepping their boundaries and sticking their nose where they don’t belong. But, what do you think? Are the FTC regulations good or bad for blogging? What do you plan to do differently in 2010 as a result of this?