Blissdom Conference with FTC Update

I was on a great panel yesterday with Susan Getgood from Blog With Integrity and Kristen Berman from Intuit, here at the Blissdom 2010 Conference.

One of the difficult questions that came up is around the FTC Advertising Guides. As many of you know, Blog With Integrity did a Webinar in November with Mary Engle of the FTC.

In that session, Ms. Engle indicated that bloggers need to put disclosures of any material relationships in the top of a blog post, NOT at the bottom.

Confusingly, one of her colleagues, Richard Cleland, did a different webinar in which he said that that it was fine to put disclosures at the bottom of a post.

Happily, here in the Blissdom Conference audience, we had a 3rd member of the FTC Advertising Practices team, Stacey Ferguson. Stacey helpfully clarified — and promised she’d try to make sure that everyone on the team communicates the same message — the following:

The FTC prefers disclosures to be at the top of the post, but that is NOT a requirement of the Guides.

Let me say that again:

You do not HAVE to put disclosures at the top of the post.

Disclosures still need to be within each applicable post. Blanket disclosures are not good enough. BUT. There is more flexibility in where and how that looks than had been previously communicated.

Remember, the standard is that the disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous.” If you’ve been paid or received goods or services for free, you need to disclose that in a clear and conspicuous way. Forunately, exactly what that looks like has some room for interpretation within your post.

Register Now – CLE Webinar on Social Media Challenges for Lawyers and Clients

On January 27, 2010, I’ll be conducting a webinar called Social Media Challenges for Lawyers and Clients. The webinar is through the State Bar of Wisconsin, and will also include Tim Pierce, Ethics Counsel, State Bar of Wisconsin.

Important details: 2 CLE credits, from 11:30 am-1:30 pm, Central time, register through the State Bar. The cost is $125 for members, $145 for non-members, and is free for Ultimate Passholders.

Here’s the agenda:

Can you Twitter your way to a lawsuit?

Are there downsides to using social media? Whether or not your clients have made a strategic choice to create a presence on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or through corporate blogs, they have a social media presence. Their employees are using these tools, at home if not at work. (Your employees are, too!) The question is what are they saying about their work, and how are your clients and their customers responding?

Find out about potential pitfalls in using various forms of social media to communicate with your clients or discuss client-related issues.

You’ll also learn:

• Potential dangers that may lurk in a law firm’s Web site
• What to watch out for to avoid creating problems for yourself and your firm

Companies and organizations need to set policies around how their employees (and volunteers) communicate about work and the workplace via social media venues, and they need to make sure that their employees understand the rules.

Who should attend:

• Any lawyer considering social networking
• Any lawyer representing clients involved in social networking

What you’ll learn:

• Key elements of a good policy and risks associated with bad policies
• Special issues for certain populations: Financial Services, Health Care, Education, Law Practice
• Importance of employee education/training

Liza Speaking at Atlanta RIMS Educational Conference

I’m very excited to go down to Atlanta on February 18, 2010, to speak at the Atlanta RIMS Educational Conference.

In case RIMS is a new element for your acronym soup, it isn’t a car accessory company. RIMS is the Risk and Insurance Management Society, the professional organization for corporate risk management professionals.

I don’t have a panel title yet, but we will be talking about how companies can mitigate the risks associated with social media participation. I expect that I’ll be talking a great deal about the FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising that go into effect December 1, 2009.