Do the FTC Guides Relate to Quora?
I admit, the revised FTC Guides can be confusing. They aren’t prescriptive and because they were published before the meteoric rise in “social answers” sites, they do not give specific guidance for marketers who participate in communities like Focus.com or Quora. So it’s understandable that some people might be unclear about how, when and even if they need to reveal that there may be a “material connection” between their employer and the counsel they share on these networks.
My personal rule is this: I disclose my employment on all social profiles, especially in communities on which I share content that could benefit my employer. Whenever possible, I also sign my answers “Joe Chernov / Eloqua / @jchernov” as a disclosure “safety net.” This might be excessive, but I think it’s the right thing to do. So I do it.
A prominent competitor recently began following me on Quora, so I decided to see how she handled disclosure on Q&A sites. It appears her approach differs from mine. If my personal model is persistent disclosure, then hers could be characterized as variable disclosure. Here are some examples (as a professional courtesy I’ve obscured the names of the individual and company):
Here she prominently discloses her employer:
Here she highlights her industry, but not employer:
Here she characterizes herself as an author and top blogger:
One could argue that none of her answers overtly sell her employer’s product, so no disclosure is required; one could counter by asserting employer/employee bias is inherent in her perspective, which may necessitate disclosure. My “persistent disclosure” model hints at which side of the debate I come down on, but I am writing this post to hear how others feel about this topic. I am paticularly interested in Quora's policies in this area. To that end, I posted the question, "What is Quora's policy on disclosing material connections when answering questions?" on Quora.
FTC aside, I feel that social media is fundamentally about openness and transparency, so I err on the side of over-disclosing. I have only one professional reputation, and I feel the best way to safeguard it is by making sure that if I am talking about a topic relevant to my employer, then that connection is unambiguous. For others struggling with this issue, I'd urge you to ask yourself: "What would the community gain from my shifting bio? Would variable disclosure clarify my answer, or am I effectively seeking to influence the authority the community assigns to my answer?" One serves the crowd; the other serves yourself. I prefer to serve the crowd.
