in the square

Paul Rand, CEO/ Founder of Zócalo Group, participated in an exclusive, live webinar from Social Media Today entitled “Disclosure, Transparency and Ethics in Blogging,” held on October 18, 2011 at 12:00 PM EST. Joining the discussion was Randy Cohen, writer for “Late Night with David Letterman” and author of “The Ethicist,” a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine and Maggie Fox, Founder/ CEO of Social Media Group, who moderated the panel.

As part of Social Media Today’s Best Thinkers series, the webinar focused on exploring best practices for ethics in blogging. Drawing upon insight from ethics guru Randy Cohen and marketing expert Paul Rand, some of the key learnings and featured highlights from the session include:

• Is transparency enough?If a blogger is given something and they disclose it, can they still provide an objective review? The reader knows there was an exchange of value, so do readers understand sponsored reviews and perceive them as such? Regardless, clear disclosure by bloggers who have received an exchange of value is absolutely essential for consumers to make informed decisions. Marketers and agencies also have a responsibility to monitor and ask bloggers working with them to disclose in a clear and transparent way.

• Staying informed and active is key. Consumers may not always be able to protect themselves from fraudulent reviews, so the question becomes, “how do consumers stay informed?” One way is to research whether the blogger has written previous reviews. Rand said it simply by stating, “Our intolerance for being lied to, hoodwinked, or manipulated remains consistent. Laws may be needed if self-policing stops or proves inadequate. But for now, let’s stick with the common-sense approach that is helping sort out this new world.

• The FTC is actively watching and responding to brands who are behaving unethically. But with very few cases actually making it to court, or incurring monetary penalties, is public humiliation a good deterrent to unethical behavior? When it comes to policing, the greatest type is actually done by the online community itself. Self-policing by online readers and social media is forcing companies to be more transparent. If consumers feel that certain behavior is dishonest – whether or not the FTC penalizes a brand for being unethical - their reaction and backlash across social media could significantly hurt the brand’s reputation.

To hear a recording of the full webinar, please click here.