• by Ted Murphy , Op-Ed Contributor, January 6, 2010

Since the new FTC disclosure requirements went into effect December 1, there's been no shortage of commentary. I've seen discussions on big government, fears of a new reign of terror over the blogosphere, and grumblings about inconsistent treatment between social and traditional media.

But if we step back to consider things, we'll see that not much has actually changed. These regulations are just cementing what common sense told us all along - when it comes to compensation or incentives, there's no difference between cash and gifts.

For too long, people have been playing by different rules. Some bloggers have claimed to never accept payment for posts; likewise brands have claimed they never pay for posts. On one hand, they might be true statements. But on the other (and more accurate) hand, these same people have provided or received expensive products, coupons, gift cards, points, trips...and a parade of gifts has marched through this space.

The regulations bring clarity and level the playing field - two positive things. At the end of the day, the path to complying with the new guidelines doesn't need to be such a dark and ominous road. It's a great opportunity (yes, opportunity) to know who you're working with and increase your credibility.

The guide for bloggers
Good blogging is about building trust with your audience. It's about establishing your voice, making connections, and delivering content and ideas that resonate with your readers. In truth, your objectives aren't that different from the FTC. With these disclosure guidelines, the FTC is trying to protect the best interest of consumers. And you should be too - after all, they're your readers.

Now's a good time to make sure you're working with people and companies that allow you to maintain your credibility and trust with readers. Ask each advertiser how they'd like disclosure to be communicated (since the only guidelines given by the FTC are to make them 'clear and conspicuous'). And then make sure you follow the disclosure requirements for each opportunity.

For any uncertainty or grey areas, always err on the side of transparency. Maybe you truly aren't sure if a gift constitutes an incentive for a recommendation or coverage. Assume that it does. While most discussions about consequences have been focused on the advertisers, there's no get out of jail free card for bloggers. The FTC can still come after rogue bloggers that they consider deceptive.

It's wise to create a general disclosure policy to supplement the individual disclosures placed in each post, video, tweet, etc. If you're interested in working with larger companies and brands, having an established policy will reassure them that you're a professional who knows and follows the rules.

The guide for advertisers
For advertisers, the key to successfully navigating the disclosure waters can be summed up in a single word - compliance. If you're working with a digital marketing, PR firm or other agency, you need to be intimately aware of their policies, guidelines, and procedures. And if you're dealing with bloggers directly, you've got to have your own policies and procedures in place.

Questions to ask a firm (or to ask within your own org) include:

• Do you have a code of ethics? What is your disclosure policy?

• How do you educate your blogger network on these policies?

• How do you monitor compliance? How can you determine if proper disclosure has been incorporated or not?

• Is each and every post checked for disclosure?

• How do you document that disclosure has been incorporated?

• Do you know when each post goes live? Do you monitor each post to ensure all claims represent accurate and typical results?

When considering the questions above, it becomes quickly apparent that managing disclosure is no small undertaking, particularly at scale. Manually monitoring a handful of bloggers might work out - but imagine trying to juggle an active network of 100 or 1,000 bloggers with an excel file and email. Inevitably, a few bloggers or a few posts will fall through the cracks. And if you're lucky enough that everyone does comply 100% of the time, how can you be certain of this, much less prove it to anyone else?

At the end of the day, technology will have to play a role with these larger programs. Companies rely on automation to manage their compliance with a range of other regulations - from Sarbanes-Oxley to customer privacy and HIPAA. And just because it's called 'social' doesn't make social media any less serious than other industry or any less subject to industry regulations.

And maybe that's just another way to look at December 1 - these new regulations are simply recognizing the validity of this space. Blogs and tweets are serious business, and are now treated as one.