…This time on YouTube – eight minutes in and the words ‘sorry’ still seem to be sticking. However, he does raise some extremely valid points that we in the UK should really be taking note of. In the US it seems that Federal laws regarding blogging are coming into force at some stage soon. This will mean bloggers are at the mercy of taxation on products received and possibly vulnerable to law suits for comments made. There is no detailed explanation why, nor does he say that these rulings are for commercial blogs – i.e. ones that make profit from advertising. While we don’t have quite the same law-suit culture as across the pond, it’s virtually always the case that where America leads, we follow. We are roughly 2 years behind the States in terms of blogging impact, so I guess that rulings or enforced guidelines are the same number of years away for us. It’s such a huge deal I can’t emphasise it enough. For now though, I suggest we watch carefully to see how things pan out for US bloggers and adapt accordingly.
In response CEO’s comments on networks acting as a buffer between PRs and blogs, generally in the UK, PR’s are supportive of bloggers but more and more are cropping up that just see blogs as a new marketing tool with little heed for the individuality that brings us together on the blogosphere. It’s so important to have the right approach, and not to be greedy (i.e. mass mailings) and to walk the right way down the two way street. Beauty bloggers are a passionate lot writing about a subject they love. Please don’t see it as an opportunity for a few more numbers to present to clients. You either get it, or you don’t, and to bloggers it is obvious who does and who doesn’t. You need to tailor, individualise and respect the blogging medium, who in turn will show you the same courtesy as long as your products cut the mustard.
Total Beauty CEO YouTube post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udWpruT_gqc
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