As I’m a follower of @unmarketing and @copyblogger on Twitter, I was lucky enough to see a cool discussion just now regarding the disclosure of affiliate links on Twitter. It’s an important topic. Are you revisiting how you disclose your compensation as a blogger? If not, it’s time to do so. The new FTC guidelines are old news by now, but it’s easy to let certain things slip to the back of our minds. This just isn’t an area where I’d recommend slacking. Make sure your disclosures measure up.
I want to thank Scott Stratten for sending out a link to http://discl.us/. With new FTC guidelines looming with regards to how we disclose affiliate links and such on Twitter and other social media platforms, this is a great tool to consider using.
How exactly are you to disclose to your followers on Twitter that you’re sending out an affiliate link in a tweet? Since you’re limited to 140 characters…some form of shorthand simply must be invented. As @copyblogger pointed out in this conversation, the FTC does not differentiate on their policy from one platform to the next. Bottom line, if you’re use social media for business, there’s a good chance you use affiliate marketing as a part of your income strategy, and if you’re linking to an affiliate, or if you’ve received compensation of any type, it must be disclosed.
Scott made a great point that maybe the best solution is to simply link to a post on our blog, which in turn links to an affiliate. This way, we have ample space for disclosure. Another tool for disclosure is http://discl.us/. It provides a way of disclosing right within the tweet itself.
Will it stand up in court? Ha. Don’t even ask me. But it’s a nice tool. I will consider using it, and I wanted you to be aware of it as an option.
For more information on this important topic, I recommend reading Brian Clark’s article “How to Turn Affiliate Marketing Disclosure Into a Selling Point“.
Good post, Christian. I’m glad I live in Europe so I don’t have to deal with this hassle, but I’ve heard that I might have to anyway. I have put up disclosure statements on my websites. I don’t really mind them though. More honesty and transparency is always good for the good guys.
Who this applies to is really tough to determine. I ranted about this in various places when the news first came out, because if I’m being honest it really smacks of the same thing the RIAA is doing with the music industry…tracking down college kids with illegal downloads on their hard drives and prosecuting them. It’s a waste of time and just ends up making the RIAA look ridiculous. Do I believe in disclosure? Yes, I think everyone should do it. Do I think the government can competently manage it? That’s another story altogether
If you’re blogging in Singapore, using a server in the US and selling ebooks to reader in New Zealand, are you governed by US FTC regulations? How bout if you’re in the US, blogging to a niche audience in UK and using a server in Costa Rica? Hmm. Does your mere physical presence in the US land you under US jurisdiction even though none of your business is in the US? It’s a hairy situation
Agreed!
The government doesn’t really know what they’re doing. The same happened with poker, where the gov is trying to regulate the transactions (in the US). I think this will all go away, because people are realizing how ridiculous this is.
Here’s to a more sane future!
Cyberspace is much like the ocean. Who governs the middle of the Atlantic? Essentially, no one. It’s ungovernable. Of course, different sovereignties (sp?) claim jurisdiction, but the lines are always gray at best. And so it is in cyber space. Only more so.