Blog o' Blogs

The Keymaster of Gozer goes on an epic quest to find the Gatekeeper in “Ghostbusters.” One would have to go on a similar quest to find the gatekeeper for the Internet.

While there are limited television, radio and large print media outlets in each region, there is a seemingly unlimited amount of pages on the internet. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates radio and television. Print media is self-regulated, if at all, and protected by “freedom of the press” guaranteed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Internet is most similar to print media because of its lack of regulation. However, while most print media have editors that serve as gatekeepers, essentially everyone can publish directly to the Internet with no filter. Blogs are hotspots for exercising freedom of speech and freedom of press. Unfortunately, the lack of editors also means incorrect information can propagate because there’s not the fact-checking and levels of editing that characterize traditional media.

There are countless examples of the lack of a gatekeeper causing problems on the Internet, but here are a couple recent ones.

Blogger “April’s Mom” faked being pregnant and angered many people when the scam was uncovered. She then deleted her blog, Web site and Twitter and Facebook accounts, but someone had already identified her.

This disturbing Wikipedia hoax showed how unreliable internet sources can be, yet how reliant some media sources are on them. Sociology student Shane Fitzgerald conducted an experiment to see how many people would trust a phony quote posted on Wikipedia. Blogs and newspaper sites around the world used the un-attributed quote. From the article linked above:

“So far, The Guardian is the only publication to make a public mea culpa, while others have eliminated or amended their online obituaries without any reference to the original version — or in a few cases, still are citing Fitzgerald’s florid prose weeks after he pointed out its true origin.”

The introduction of the Internet greatly increased the demand for instant information. In the rush to provide info, mistakes are sometimes made and spread with ease. Mistakes can also easily be covered up because they can just be deleted or edited out of a post. Unlike in other media, it’s not permanently on the record for all to see.

Are there any restrictions for corporate blogs?

Because corporate blogs are a form of advertising, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which regulates the marketplace in the interest of consumers. Truth-in-advertising laws are in place to ensure advertisers are not deceiving customers.

According to PR Watch, the FTC may require bloggers, Twitterers and others to disclose when they’ve been compensated for product placement. This should include corporate blogs because they can provide product placement for other companies just as easily as any “citizen blogger.” Facilitators for viral marketing can be held legally liable for false statements about products or services.