The FTC has issued new guidelines on Tuesday to have full online ad disclosure. This is to ensure that consumers can clearly see which are ads and which is content and to clear up any content advertising, which have become popular in such social media platforms as Facebook and Twitter.
These “Dotcom Disclosures” have been updated since its 2000 guidelines have been in place. Targeting small devices such as mobile smartphones and tablets.
There have been 22 examples contained in the FTC report that clarify how marketers can market to these devices through social media context.
The most interesting example is on news feeds itself on the space constrained ads, where a photo/logo appears known as “native advertising” which look identical to a news feed but is actually content marketing in disguise. The updated guidelines state that the word “Ad” be placed before the message to identify it as such. Creating clear identification that it’s an advertised post.
Bloggers will be affected by these guidelines. As reviews are written in exchange for products or services. These exchanges need to be clear up front and not disguised near a bottom of a review or by links.