I posted below about the FTC’s reluctance to take any official regulatory stance on Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing.

Interestingly, a few other sites covered the same story very differently. The Advertising Age story (my source) didn’t even mention the FTC Staff Opinion (pdf alert!), which suggests that those getting paid to offer recommendations must disclose that financial relationship.

No industry likes to be regulated, but this could help prevent the downward spiral in credibility that would to hamstring online marketing efforts (in much the same way even legitimate e-mail is questioned amidst a tidal wave of scam-mail).

Right now I’m on a deadline, but will visit this more later.

I don’t see a huge impact on Engagement Marketing, where “secret” relationships would tend to hurt rather than help the process along. More later! Tom Chandler.

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