Cutting the Strings
The FTC now wants to regulate the blogosphere by holding companies and bloggers liable for false or unsubstantiated claims about products if the blogger has received a free sample of that product.
Revised guidelines on endorsements and testimonials by the Federal Trade Commission, now under review and expected to be adopted, would hold companies liable for untruthful statements made by bloggers and users of social networking sites who receive samples of their products.
On the face of it, it keeps advertisers from “greasing” the bloggers to get into the mix. This seems a noble intent to “serve and protect”, right? However we do know that there is no “free” lunch and there are always “strings” attached.
I have written before about the wolves in sheep’s clothing out there, posing as your social homies, but are really just there to sell you something. Well, regulators who want to protect us also have an agenda – more control and more taxes. So let’s look at it closer.
When a manufacturer sends a product, like a TV, PDA or MP3 player to a blogger for review, what do you think the odds are that that product has been tested, re-tested and spit shined well in excess of that which “Joe Public” would pull off the shelf at his local store? How long does this blogger have to wait for technical support if something wrong does happen? On the other hand, the blogger in question likely has domain expertise and exposure to many products in this domain, to produce valuable comparison and evaluation that could help you to make better selection.
In addition to concerns about a blogger integrity there are also variables in terms of what features are most critical to real users, length and the frequency of use.
So what is a consumer to do? Life is continuing education and we still need to do our homework and check our facts. There are many resources out there where you can find multiple reviews on products by users/peers like yourself. This big a pool of reviewers can not be “bought” or easily “gamed” by unscrupulous marketers.
You can find out more about the blogger’s reputation. Check him or her out, check the manufacturer’s reputation as well. Then compare the expert review with the consensus of your peers about the product and retailer, and decide if you want to buy the product.
We are much better off taking personal responsibility for gathering and analyzing the information to form our own decisions.
Information, it’s out there, let’s keep it that way and don’t forget to contribute your experiences in a form of product reviews.
A blog about experiences, curiosity and the never-ending search for ways to do better things better
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