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Disclosure, Transparency and Ethics in Blogging
In the blogosphere, it's not always easy to distinguish marketers from regular citizens. With the explosion of online marketing in recent years we've seen all sorts of ethically dubious practices, like PR agencies posting "impartial" product reviews about their clients and "independent" bloggers failing to disclose freebies and other considerations from the companies that they write about. In the latest installment of Social Media Today's Best Thinkers series, ethics guru Randy Cohen (former ethics columnist for the New York Times Magazine), and marketing expert Paul Rand discuss the emerging ethics of blogging.
Our panelists explored the following questions and others from the audience:
- How do we distinguish opinion, information and marketing in the blogosphere?
- What are appropriate disclosure requirements for corporate bloggers?
- Can you be an objective blogger?
About the Panel:
Paul M. Rand
Paul M. Rand is the President and CEO of the Zócalo Group (www.zocalogroup.com), a leading word of mouth and social media marketing firm that helps brands become the most talked about and recommended in their category. In addition, Paul serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, is on the national Board of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and is the Immediate Past President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (www.womma.org).
Randy Cohen
Randy Cohen’s first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love Comics). His first television work was writing for "Late Night With David Letterman" for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore’s "TV Nation." He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. For twelve years he wrote "The Ethicist," a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine. His new book, "Be Good: how to navigate the ethics of everything," will be published by Chronicle in September 2012. He is currently working on “Person Place Thing” a public radio program for WAMC.
Maggie Fox, Moderator, Social Media Group
Maggie Fox is the founder and CEO of Social Media Group, established in 2006 and one of the world’s most highly respected independent agencies helping business navigate the socially engaged Web. Pioneers in their field, Social Media Group has developed social media strategies for some of the best-known brands in Europe and North America, including; Ford Motor Company, SAP Global Marketing, Norwegian Cruise Line, 3M and Thomson Reuters. Maggie has been interviewed about social media by The Washington Post, CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, CTV News, AdAge and The Financial Post, among others. She was also named one of the Top 100 Marketers in the 100th anniversary edition of Marketing Magazine and sits on the Board of the Empire Club of Canada.
