ASA to regulate social media

The Guardian covered the story last week about the ASA plans to regulate marketing activities in social media and its covered in detail by e-consultancy. It seems similar to the move in the US by the FTC last year.

To me, it seems a good move - anything to cut down on the scammers and impersonators in social media. However, most reputable brands are already behaving, well, reputably. The challenge for the ASA will be policing the new regulations. I'm really not sure how they are going to do this.

It will also be interesting to see how bloggers, company employees and celebrities react to the rule about full disclosure.

With bloggers I reckon there won't be a problem. Most disclose any involvement with brands if they post about that brand as they tend not to post positively for commercial gain, but to share thoughts and opinions. Usually, their credibility is more important than any cash they would receive for 'sponsored conversations'. [which I don't believe are credible as honest dialogue between people].

With employees, it might be a bit trickier. Not for any underhand reason but because of the training required to inform all employees of a brand about the new rules. It would be too easy for a company to fall foul of the ASA when an employee quite innocently posts on his/her Facebook Profile, or someone else's about their company's product without declaring they work for the company. So a huge need for training.

It will be very interesting to see what happens with celebrities. Will they declare they are being paid by a brand when they review a product on their blog, tweet about a new product they have receive to try or update their social network profile with some news about their 'favourite' brand? I guess we'll find out in September.