Today is the first day that bloggers and others who write online reviews or endorse products using new media must disclose it when they receive free merchandise or payment for writing about an item. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expects the blogosphere to add a little sentence — in undersize italics at the bottom of a post — that reads:

A Girl Must Shop Disclosure: As a Twisted Insider, A Girl Must Shop receives a new, un-released item from Twisted Silver once per month for six months to review on our blog. The same design is also provided as a contest prize for our readers.

The revised FTC guidelines add some new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers.

The new guidelines specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.

So, let me the first to disclose that I got bupkis for this blog post. Nuthin’, nada. Zip, zero, zilch. Heck, I didn’t even get a link in the “Posted by Greg Jarboe” note at the bottom of this item.

So, I figure that this means I’m free to make the following endorsements:

The Boston Red Sox — I grew up in Michigan as a Detroit Tigers fan — hating the New York Yankees. So, when I moved to Massachusetts, I fit right in.

The University of Michigan — Okay, so even I’m getting sick and tired of losing six football games in a row to The Ohio State University Buckeyes, but you gotta stick with your alma mater.

Google News — When Google News was launched in September 2002, “the tactic known as SEO PR” was born. I owe a lot to Krishna Bharat, the creator of Google News, but no money has changed hands.

YouTube News — This is one of the best kept secrets in the news industry. It is more “fair and balanced” than Fox News (which isn’t hard) and more compelling than C-SPAN (which also isn’t hard).

Experian Hitwise — Okay, so they provide me with insights on how 10 million US Internet users interact with more than 1 million websites, across 160+ industries. But they’ve never paid me a nickel.

comScore — They provide me with digital marketing intelligence that enables my readers to better understand, leverage and profit from the rapidly evolving worldwide web. But they’ve never paid me a dime.

Heck, I don’t even get swag or tchotchke for my blog posts. Okay, I should disclose that I got a t-shirt from Acquisio at SES London 2009 that read: “I report to no one.” But there was no quid pro quo involved and I’ve never reviewed their software.

So, according to the FTC guidelines, it’s okay to make endorsements as long as there are no “material connections.” Get it? Got it? Good.

If you are a blogger in the US your life is about to change big-time.

You have just entered the Twilight Zone…

New FTC guidelines (read full version) described in the official press release state:

1 – “the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

and

2 – the revised Guides reflect Commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. The revised Guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.“

My reading of this is very disturbing.

Here is a possible scenario:

1. You – a “social media” “celebrity” “blogger” (this is anyone who has more than a few followers on Twitter or some number of subscribers to their blog RSS feed) reviews a book, product, or service – making it an “endorsement”
2. You got a copy of the book to review, or got a free trial of the product, or a free trial of the service
3. You did not mention the freebie in your blog post
4. If someone does not like your blog posting you can be sued

To try to regulate bloggers as if they were professional journalists or compensated endorsements is asinine (incidentally – these guidelines do not apply to professional journalists!) The FTC is trying a land-grab into Internet regulation so they can extend their bureaucratic tentacles and justify their continued existence and funding. All of this is being done under the slogan of their official tagline “Protecting America’s Consumers”. This of course begs the questions – “from whom?”

This is a screwy world we live in, but the whole premise of blogging on the Internet is predicated on the notion that anyone can have frank and open discussions about any topic of their choosing. Most bloggers do not get paid and do not make any money directly or indirectly from their blogging efforts. They try to build their reputation and disseminate information that their followers may find useful. They never claim to be “objective” and often hold very strong, peculiar, and very personal opinions.

It has always been “buyer beware” on the Internet. I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded that we should carefully consider the source and reputation of any information that we encounter online. We certainly don’t need a chilling effect on the whole online conversation from a huge government agency.

It is ironic that this is happening under the direction of a man who was elected with the strong support of the Internet community and specifically active social media leaders. Unfortunately typical liberal-leaning tendencies are also to regulate people’s lives via the government in order to protect them against unscrupulous big-business practices.

Don’t get me wrong – frankly I don’t care if the assault on individual liberties comes from the left or right (the four FTC commissioners who voted unanimously for the new guideline were all appointed by Bush). But I do care when big brother injects themselves into normal Internet discourse this heavy-handedly.

Fight this unconstitutional over-reach – these are simply regulations from unelected bureaucrats within the executive branch.

Let’s make our voices heard and protect the First Amendment and our ability to have unfettered discourse without fear of lawsuits online.

BTW – no one paid me to “endorse” this position on the new FTC regulations – I guess that my butt is now legally covered (at least for this blog post).

During the past three weeks, I’ve given you three great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to catch up, they were “three key trends“, “two early birds,” and “a ranking in the top three.”

This week, I’ll focus on a fourth compelling reason — and it isn’t to hear “four calling birds.”

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to hear “four keynote themes.”

Let’s start with SES Chicago 2009, where there will be three keynote themes well worth hearing.

On Day 1, the opening keynote is being given by Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? He is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. He is also consulting editor and a partner at Daylife, a news startup.

Jarvis writes about media, technology and business on his blog, BuzzMachine. A former TV critic for TV Guide and People magazine, as well as the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, he has also been assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a reporter for Chicago Today.

“My keynote, like my book, isn’t really about Google,” says Jarvis. “It will be about the profound changes in the economy and society brought on by the Internet — as seen through the success of the one company that has figured out and exploited them better than any other: Google.”

Jarvis adds, “We’ll have fun discussing the impact of search and the Google economy on every sector from media to advertising to restaurants to government.

On Day 2 of Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009, the keynote speaker is Peter Morville, author of the best-sellers Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. He is also the President of Semantic Studios and blogs at findability.org.

During his keynote, Morville is expected to expand on the themes found in his published works, including the idea of findability and the importance of a navigable and friendly user interface.

“At SES Chicago, this will be my first opportunity to talk about ideas in my new book – about the future of search and discovery,” says Morville. “In addition to exploring the relationships between information architecture, ambient findability, and search engine optimization, we’ll also be covering mobile search, decision engines, augmented reality, and emerging technologies that will change the way we find everything from answers and articles to products and people.”

On Day 3, the keynote speaker is Dan Siroker, the web entrepreneur known for leading the analytics team for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. He also served as the Deputy Director of New Media on the presidential transition team.

Siroker’s team of software engineers and analysts were responsible for optimizing the effectiveness of the Obama campaign’s online operations that ended up raising over half a billion dollars, registering over 2 million voters, and enabling 3 million phone calls to be made in the final four days of the campaign.

Before joining the Obama campaign, Siroker was a Product Manager for Google Chrome and, before that, he worked as a Product Manager for Google AdWords.

“SES Chicago is, of course, in the President’s hometown, so I’m really looking forward to sharing the lessons my team and I learned during the Obama campaign and how these practices can be applied to any data-driven decision,” says Siroker. “Whether you’re a developer, designer or marketer, if you’re building a product or selling an idea, you can use data to do it better.”

The fourth keynote theme will be delivered by Bill Hunt, the President of Back Azimuth Consulting and co-author of the best selling book “Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company’s Web Site“, who will be the opening keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies Berlin.

Hunt is currently on the Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization and writes Bill Hunt’s Rants & Raves blog, which provides digital marketing commentary from a global marketing road warrior.

Hunt firmly believes that when we understand the searcher’s intent, where a searcher is in the buying cycle or even understanding the type of search they are doing, advertisers can better intersect with the current demand for their type of products and services to increase sales. That’s a keynote theme worth going to SES Berlin to hear.

Next week, we’ll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing “four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three.”