The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued its “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The guideline, last updated in 1980, covers regulations on ‘what celebrity endorsers can say and how advertisers can use research claims.’ The same guideline is now being applied to comments on or reviews of products such as gadgets or fashion, or even services, in such formats as online blogs, Facebook entries, and Twitter updates.

Being construed as commercial endorsements or thinly-veiled marketing and advertising strategy, the FTC wants to police product and book reviews by requiring writers and bloggers ‘to disclose online if they have what the FTC vaguely defines as “material connections” with the sellers of a product or service. This could include getting free samples on which they base comments or reviews.’

Some bloggers have objected to the government stipulation, arguing that ‘their activities are squarely in the realm of speech, not commerce.’ According to technology blogger Dan Gillmor, the guidelines are “an attack on markets and free speech, based on a 20th Century notion of media and advertising that simply doesn’t map to the new era. The advertising of the past was a one-to-many system. Call it broadcasting. The Internet is a many-to-many system. Call it conversation. They are not the same.”

The reaction to the regulations has so far been overwhelming, resulting in the FTC stepping back very recently. According to the agency, it ‘planned to bring actions against companies as advertisers, not against bloggers or individuals.’

Fact remains, though, that there is no practical and absolutely doable way for any government to police bloggers.

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Via The Wall Street Journal

If you are a blogger, you would know how important widgets are to personalize your page, and also to let people know what you believe in and what your interests are. SealTale is a start up which is participating in TechCrunch50, and aims to tap this growing need for widgets.

Bloggers can pick “seals” which allow the user to let the visitors know which products, bands, movements or causes they would vouch for. Bloggers can also create their own seals. When a visitor hovers their mouse around the seal, the seal would open an RSS feed which would bring posts from other blogs that have similar content.

Thus, different blogs can be connected and precious traffic can be directed from one another. SealTale looks like a promising start up and only time will tell if it is going to work or not. The seals can be used in social networking sites such as Facebook too. Thus, connecting visitors and similar blogs would become easier.

Over the past decade, the employment rate has drastically dipped. To top it all, finding the right candidate with the right talent has almost become a challenge for most of the companies. A conspicuous reason for this could be because the best qualified candidates are already employed somewhere or the other, and hence, they seldom look for new jobs. Job boards like Monster.com or HotJobs hardly find their applications on their sites.

In order to reach or to them, rather seek or follow them,TalentSeekr, an ad network for jobs has come up with a trick. TalentSeekr creates and tests multiple ads across the Web – social networks, blogs, forums, search engines, etc. They then optimize the mix of ad types such as, banner, text, video, creative elements, and placement as well based on the response rate and the quality of the applicants, which come through the ads.

Ryan Caldwell, the CEO of EnticeLabs, the company behind TalentSeekr boasts to have companies like Dell, GE, IBM, Adidas, Reebok, Google and Microsoft as their customers. CarrerAds, which is aimed at blogs and Websites looking to display job related ads is another product of EnticeLab in addition to TalentSeekr.

However, filling a job on TalentSeekr is rather time consuming and takes longer than on Monster. It works better if you are looking for 3,000 odd SAP consultants but not when you are looking for filling just a few positions. Monsters perhaps will be a better bet in this regard. The average click through rates for TalentSeekr ads range between 0.15 percent and 0.37 percent. For among those who click, the application rate varies from 0.22 percent for medical jobs to 2.68 percent for tech jobs.

In the past, some companies have tried job ad networks but failed. Monster has its Career Ad Network, A Y Combinator company called SnapTalent tried this before shifting over to career fairs. Caldwell nonetheless is very positive about TalentSeekr not meeting the same fate like the other companies. He has a valid reason to be positive as IBM and GE are talking about shifting large online recruiting budgets away from poorly-performing job boards. We only wish the best for TalentSeekr.

Via: TalentSeekr\EnticeLab

Wedding day is the biggest and the most special day in one’s life. The richie rich of the world splurging on their weddings beyond the commoners’ imagination per se is a reason enough to support that how special the wedding day is to the couple. However, a good wedding plan is very essential to carry forward the ceremony successfully.

Noa Gafni, the owner of Webutantes and the social media consultant came up with the idea of providing wedding plans on the web itself. This is a good move as many people literally hook themselves to the internet most of the time. Reaching them through the internet is perhaps the easiest way.

This move allows you to solicit tips from the experts, use tools to stay organized, seek advices and ideas. You can also share updates with your friends and family as well. Where to Get Engaged is another site wherein you can discuss how to pop the question on forums and blogs, watch real engagement videos and also find vendors even for rings and flowers. Should you prefer to avoid surprises, you can register in stealth mode. You can also create a blog to document your proposal.

OneWeb is another site that allows couple to seek out friends and family to share tips and offer advice. They also provide you a good Wedding Checklist. You can also plan your wedding through your Facebook profile now. Interestingly, Where to Get Engaged & Hearts on Fire are giving away a 1 Carat Hearts On Fire Diamond Ring worth over $12,500. To win this, you will either have to visit Heart’s on Fire’s profile or your favorite Hearts on Fire Retailer and add your 3 favorite Hearts on Fire pieces to your wishlist. Just do not forget to add your picture and “about me” to be eligible. I guess indeed, “Marriages are made in heaven.”

Via: OneWeb\BridalFever\Brides\WeddingChannel\Facebook\WheretoGetEngaged

Nielsen studied the online habits of people from nine countries, revealing that the use of blogs and social networking sites has attracted more users than the mail. In fact, Facebook alone is visited by 3 out of every 10 Internet users.

The world has become the Facebook generation. People now communicate via their online personal pages, and Facebook is leading the race. This has been to the detriment of the old email which is now considered by many as outdated and wracked by spam.

Social network penetration was recorded to be highest in Brazil, with 80 percent of Internet users in the country now into social networking sites and blogs. The use of this type of application has grown steadily in Great Britain at 69 percent. In Britain, 23 percent of the population access Facebook and the like directly from the phone. The growth rate is highest in Germany, with a leap of 12.5 percent in terms of popularity of social networking.

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Via Telegraph.co.uk

Here is a fairy tale success story of ‘Bacon Salt’, a brand name which spread through social media networks like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter and achieved a grand success. ‘Bacon salt’ began as a joke between two buddies before it became an actual product marketed entirely through social media. Now it’s become an example of how social media can play a powerful role in brand building.

The only investment of these two buddies was online time. They just spread the word through social media networks and innovative online tools and applications. Even in the past, for small new entrepreneurs, word-of-mouth has been best low cost advertising option. Now with the aid of social media simple word-of-mouth spreads with great speed across the globe.

Yet this success cannot be put into formula and replicated by one and all. Same social media can work negatively too. Many a big brands have failed to harness the power of this new social communications and have gone back to their trusted PR agencies and old advertising and marketing strategies. This new trend of advertising using social networks and blogs to create a buzz and hope it gets amplified into success is nevertheless interesting!

Via Adweek