Andy's Video

Andy Sernovitz preaches common sense. From beginning to end, I got the sense that he cares for WOM and understands just how powerful it can be on the internet. Many people are affected by the messages that marketers put on the web including children, teens and the older generation; and it was refreshing to hear that there is a marketer that cares for the purity of the messages that get passed through the web.

Andy explains to us rules put out by the FTC regarding marketing on Social Media. These rules have been in place for some time, but are now being more strictly enforced. Some of the main rules that grabbed my attention were, that companies are responsible for non-truths of messages to those that they (or those they are paying) are marketing to, which means that their messages have to be truthful and clear enough for anyone in the general public to understand. Another is about employee disclosure, which means anyone that is being paid to write/blog/do anything for the company has to disclose this information clearly (and also the writing they do for your company has to be truthful). The last big one is that companies are rewarded for having a set training program for those that they pay to enter into the social media realm. If they have these programs, not only will it help to reduce misconduct by employees, but the company would be protected by the FTC for any future misconduct by the employees.

Andy says a line in the video that helped me to realize what is at stake here if companies don't take these rules seriously. To paraphrase, he says that "Email is dead because of all of the companies that want to deceive others with their messages, and continue to push the limits of this deception. I don't want social media to die like email." I am very glad that the FTC has started taking this seriously by fining companies that don't follow the rules, because social media has become such a great part of our culture, and it really would be a shame if all of our children had to be exposed to all of the negative aspects of deceptive marketing, messages and people.

Richard