I’m Lindsey McInerney and I’m the intern here at SMG.

If you missed the Social Media Today webinar last Thursday, you can check out thearchive of the audio.

Maggie moderated a great discussion with Augie Ray (@augieray), Managing Director of Experiential Marketing at Fullhouse, Daniel Tunkelang (@dtunkelang), Chief Scientist and co-founder of Endeca and John Jantsch (@ducttape), marketing and digital technology coach and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.  The webinar covered issues surrounding transparency, pay-for-play, online privacy, Astroturfing, compliance and legal for social media users.

Here are some of the highlights:

• The FTC hasn’t updated their advertising rules in 29 years. Due to the evolving nature of the online community, they are expected to do an overhaul shortly that mirrors some sample guidelines they put out late last year. What are the expectations going to be of brands engaging with bloggers online? How much does a blogger have to disclose? What is the risk for brands engaging in this space? Do we need policing? If you truly love a product, is it ok to get paid to write about it? As a reader, do you care? Hear what the Social Media Today gang thinks.
• As it turns out, bloggers can’t live off of cases of shampoo. They need to make money. The group navigates what compensation from brands is fair and when bloggers need to disclose. Additionally, they talk about brands taking responsibility of blogger disclosure and how to pick a blogger with care.
• If bloggers are forced to disclose every time they receive compensation for talking about a product, will audiences ever believe they can be impartial? Perhaps paying them directly isn’t the answer. Maggie stick handles the discussion through blogger compensation. Hear the conversation about what is acceptable, when to disclose and how bloggers can financially benefit creating a win-win situation for both brand and blogger.
• If talking about products on blogs is questionable, how much different is it than product placement in movies? Ultimately, it seems readers and brands should know the writer. If you don’t like where the writer is going with their posts, you always have the option to un-follow or unsubscribe. Perhaps this is the best policing out there.

Are you a brand? A blogger? A passionate reader? We’d love to hear what you think. So listen to the audio archive, and let us know where you stand!