Ethical and Legal Issues Related to Blogging and Social Media

FROM THE ACADEMY Ethics in Action

IETETICS PRACTITIONERS ARE ful information in communi- resist their pressure to influence increasingly turning to the cating with the public. content. When exceptions are Internet—using blogs and • Principle 15. The dietetics practi- made, disclose them fully to readers. D other forms of social media— tioner is alert to the occurrence of to educate the public, promote products a real or potential conflict of in- or services, and build a professional terest and takes appropriate ac- brand. The fundamental principles of TRANSPARENCY IN BLOGGING tion whenever a conflict arises. honesty, integrity, and fairness out- Many RDs/DTRs are interested in mon- lined in the Academy of Nutrition and • Principle 18. The dietetics practi- etizing their blogs and entering into Dietetics/Commission on Dietetic Reg- tioner does not invite, accept, or marketing relationships with food istration Code of Ethics for the Profes- offer gifts, monetary incentives, companies and other corporations to sion of Dietetics apply to all forms of or other considerations that af- review products, write sponsored blog marketing and communications, in- fect or reasonably give an appear- posts, or serve as media spokespeople. cluding blogging and social media. The ance of affecting his/her profes- Disclosing these marketing relation- primary Codes applicable to registered sional judgment.1 ships, such as payments or free prod- dietitians (RDs) and dietetic techni- ucts, between a company and a blogger Once you submit any type of content cians, registered (DTRs) involved in (an “endorser” or “advocate”) is no lon- online—a blog, recipe, video, photo- social media include Principles 6, 15, ger simply an issue of ethics—there are graph, or even a tweet—you automati- and 18: legal implications. Revised endorse- cally become a publisher and have the ment guidelines from the Federal Trade 2 • Principle 6. The dietetics practi- ethical responsibilities of a journalist. Commission4 require bloggers who ac- tioner does not engage in false or Cyberjournalist.net created a Bloggers’ cept cash or in-kind payments to dis- misleading practices or commu- Code of Ethics that states, “. . . responsi- close these “material connections” with nications. ble bloggers should recognize that they corporate sponsors or advertisers. are publishing words publicly, and X 6b. The dietetics practitioner Transparency is required for blogs, promotes or endorses spe- therefore have certain ethical obliga- podcasts, microblogs (eg, Twitter), so- tions to their readers, the people they cial networks (eg, Facebook, LinkedIn), cific goods or products only 3 in a manner that is not false write about, and society in general.” video sharing websites (eg, YouTube, and misleading. The Code includes the following man- Vimeo), and photo sharing websites dates for bloggers: (eg, Pinterest, Instagram). The rationale X 6c. The dietetics practitioner is that “. . . on a personal blog, a social provides accurate and truth- • Never plagiarize. networking page, or in similar media, • Identify and link to sources the reader may not expect the reviewer whenever feasible. The public is To take the Continuing Professional Education to have a relationship with the com- quiz for this article, log in to www.eatright.org, entitled to as much information pany whose products are mentioned. click the “myAcademy” link under your name at as possible on sources’ reliability. Disclosure of that relationship helps the top of the homepage, select “Journal Quiz” • Distinguish between advocacy, readers decide how much weight to from the menu on your myAcademy page, click 5 “Journal Article Quiz” on the next page, and commentary, and factual infor- give the review.” then click the “Additional Journal CPE Articles” mation. Even advocacy writing Bloggers who are committed to ethi- button to view a list of available quizzes, from cal blogging can pledge to abide by eth- which you may select the quiz for this article. and commentary should not mis- represent fact or context. ical standards and display a blog badge through initiatives such as Blog with In- • Distinguish factual information tegrity,6 which includes the following and commentary from advertis- This article was written by Janet statement in its pledge: Helm, MS, RD, chief food and ing and shun hybrids that blur the nutrition strategist at Weber lines between the two. I disclose my material relationships, policies, and business practices. My Shandwick, Chicago, IL. She is a • Disclose conflicts of interest, affil- blogger and co-founder of the readers will know the difference be- iations, activities, and personal Nutrition Blog Network and Healthy tween editorial, advertorial, and ad- Aperture. agendas. vertising, should I choose to have it. • Deny favored treatment to adver- If I do sponsored or paid posts, they doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2013.02.008 tisers and special interests and are clearly marked.

RDs4Disclosure7 encourages RDs to • #spon or #sp (sponsor) this company that needs to be adopt a disclosure policy to guide all • #cl (client) disclosed. Mention that you are communication efforts, including blog working with Company X in • articles, tweets, and Facebook posts. #paid your blog post, and use #cl or This peer-enacted community of RDs • #ad other relevant hashtags with includes the following in its pledge: your tweets or Facebook posts. • #sample Your relationship with the food You pledge to be honest and trans- If you are paid to endorse a product brand should also be included in parent about the affiliations, em- on Twitter, the Federal Trade Commis- your disclosure statement on ployment, financial or material sion considers this digital advertising your blog. relationships that influence or ap- and you must include “ad” at the begin- 2. Your situation: You received free pear to influence your media ning of a tweet.10 samples of a new food product outreach. at a conference. You posted a MARKETING DISCLOSURES picture on Facebook telling your friends how much you liked it. DISCLOSURE BEST PRACTICES CMP.LY, a company that provides social You should: Mention that The Center for Digital Ethics and Policy media disclosure solutions, created a Company X gave you this prod- created best practices for bloggers8 and standard guide for marketing disclo- uct to try, and be transparent if the Word of Mouth Marketing Associa- sures. Each of these situations requires you will receive any other perks tion developed a Social Media Market- some type of disclosure, whether this is for your promotion of the prod- ing Disclosure Guide to assist bloggers part of a blog post, podcast, pin descrip- uct (eg, coupons, commission). with ethical and legal issues, including tion on Pinterest, Instagram descrip- 3. Your situation: You are a speaker sample disclosure statements for blog tion, or interaction on Twitter: at the Food & Nutrition Confer- posts: • Review: Received materials spe- ence & Expo (FNCE); you men- • I received [product/sample/infor- cifically for review purposes tioned a food brand you’re mation] from [company name]. without any monetary or other working with during your pre- compensation. sentation and then sent tweets • [Company name] sent me [free • encouraging attendees to stop products/coupons]. Promo: Received promotional items, such as samples, gifts, or by the company’s booth at the • I was paid by [company name] to other nonmonetary compensa- Expo. review this [product] or create tion. You should: If you are a paid this recipe. spokesperson for this company • Paid: Received monetary or other • or have any marketing relation- By posting this recipe, I am enter- compensation to review or pro- ship, you must include a disclo- ing a contest sponsored by [com- mote a product or services. pany name]. sure slide in your presentation • Business: Has a material business and tag your tweets with #cl. If • I am an employee (or representa- relationship (eg, agency, vendor, the company is hosting your tive) of [company name]. or partner agreement) with a book signing at the booth, indi- • I would like to recommend my company related to the message cate #sp in your tweets. sponsor, [brand/company name]. topic. 4. Your situation: You discovered • This post is sponsored by [com- • Affiliate: Included affiliate links some new food products at your pany name].9 on a page or post and receives local supermarket and created sales commission or payment in recipes recommending them on In addition, a disclosure statement exchange for referrals.11 your blog. that identifies all marketing relation- You should: If you paid for the ships and financial interests should be ETHICAL SCENARIOS products and have no financial prominently featured on blogs, not bur- interest in the company, then no ied within a site. This statement, on a Sometimes you may be in a situation in disclosure is required. Even if which you are unsure whether disclo- page or sidebar, is not a replacement for you received free samples, you sure is required. Use these different disclosure in individual posts. If you do not need to disclose because scenarios to guide you. create a disclosure policy, you are le- the free products were available gally obligated to follow it. If not, the 1. Your situation: You have a con- to all customers, without any Federal Trade Commission considers tract with a food brand to serve expectations of promotion. that a “deceptive business practice.” as a spokesperson. You are writ- 5. Your situation: You are a mem- Beyond blogging, it is important to ing a blog post that recom- ber of an advisory panel for a disclose any marketing relationships mends this product, yet you food commodity board and re- on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and were not paid for this specific ceive a yearly stipend. You start other social media channels. The fol- mention. a Pinterest board that features lowing hashtags are recommended by You should: Even if you are this food. the Word of Mouth Marketing Associa- not paid for a specific article, You should: Mention your re- tion9: you have a relationship with lationship with the commodity

May 2013 Volume 113 Number 5 JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF NUTRITION AND DIETETICS 689 FROM THE ACADEMY

board in the board description, takes place during a set time- You should: Disclose the tag your pins with #cl, and in- frame (typically 1 hour), and the name of the sponsor in your clude this “material connection” conversations can be tracked via post or tweet, and include in your disclosure page on your the use of hashtags, it may be hashtags #sp or #cl. blog. sufficient to disclose at the start 6. Your situation: You attended a and at the end, instead of tag- sponsored event where a food ging every tweet. However, if company presented promo- you are a brand advocate and References tional information about a prod- are being paid per tweet (at var- 1. American Dietetic Association/Commis- sion on Dietetic Registration Code of uct. You shared that informa- ious times throughout the day), Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics and tion in a tweet and plan to write you should include a disclosure Process for Consideration of Ethics Is- about it on your blog. with every tweet, such as “ad” at sues. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109(8):1461- You should: Mention that the beginning of your tweet. 1467. Company X sponsored the event 9. Your situation: You have been 2. Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp. in your tweet. Be transparent approached by a company to de- Accessed December 10, 2012. about any other free products, velop a recipe and feature it on 3. Cyberjournalist.net. A bloggers’ code of gifts, or benefits you received in your blog in exchange for pay- ethics. http://www.cyberjournalist.net/ your blog post. ment. news/000215.php. Accessed December 7. Your situation: You upload a You should: Indicate that this 10, 2012. video to YouTube that shows is a sponsored blog post if you 4. Federal Trade Commission. FTC publishes you using different food prod- are being paid to feature the rec- final guides governing endorsements, testimonials. Last modified October 21, ucts. Some you bought yourself ipe. Even if you were not paid, 2009. http://www.ftc.gov/opa2009/10/ and others were sent to you by a mention any benefit you may endorstest.shtm. Accessed December 10, food company. receive by posting the recipe, in- 2012. You should: At the start of the cluding coupons or the chance 5. Federal Trade Commission. FTC facts for video, mention that some of the to win prizes via a recipe con- business. The FTC’s revised endorsement guides: what people are asking. http:// products you’re going to use test. business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs- were sent to you by their manu- 10. Your situation: You have a revised-endorsement-guideswhat-people- facturers, or call out any product year-long contract with a food are-asking. Accessed December 9, 2012. specifically if you’re a paid company and have been asked 6. Blog with Integrity. http://www.blogwith spokesperson for the brand. If to comment on different blogs integrity.com. Accessed December 12, you use the video on your blog, that are critical of this food. 2012. disclose the relationship in the You should: Be transparent 7. RDs4Disclosure. http://rds4disclosure.org. Accessed December 12, 2012. video, within the blog post or when adding comments on the video description, and on your blogs. Make your points, but 8. Center for Digital Ethics and Policy. Best practices for bloggers: Dimensions for disclosure page. disclose your relationship with consideration. http://digitalethics.org/ 8. Your situation: You are being the company in a conversa- resources/best-practices-for-bloggers- paid to host a Twitter chat. tional way, such as, “In my dimensions-for-consideration/. Accessed You should: Be sure the spon- work with Company X, I know December 9, 2012. sor and your relationship is that . . .”. 9. Word of Mouth Marketing Association. Social media marketing disclosure clearly identified in all the pro- 11. Your situation: You conducted guide. http://www.womma.org/ethics/sm- motions of the chat. You or the several television interviews disclosure-guide. Accessed December 7, moderator should disclose your as a paid spokesperson for a 2012. relationship to the sponsor at food commodity board and 10. Federal Trade Commission. .com Disclo- the start of the chat. You can want to share a video clip on sures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising. http://ftc.gov/os/ also tweet a shortened link to a Twitter and Facebook, or you 2013/03/130312dotcomdisclosures.pdf. Ac- disclosure landing page that want to alert your followers cessed March 19, 2013. provides more details about that you’ll be appearing on an 11. Disclosure standard. CMP.LY website. your role. Because a Twitter chat upcoming show. http://cmp.ly/. Accessed January 4, 2013.

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