As the blogging world grows at an ever rapid pace, light has been shed on Americas "new past time" that there may need to be a "code of ethics" of sort for this type of civil journalism. It appears to have become such a threat to consumers that the Federal Trade Commission is beginning to step in.
I personally have never "researched" a product online to read "consumer" reviews. I have had a few friends and such say they have and were considering making the purchase at hand because of the reviews. In my mind I was thinking why go by what I saw as a "blog", because I saw my friends skip over some reviews that they even said sounded fake. I mentioned in passing who goes online to praise material items in such a manner? My friends mentioned that they would, and I had to ask have you ever and what items would push you to praise it in such a manner that a company would let you?
A company manufactures a product or offers some sort of service, I doubt they will just let the world have free will to "bash" these money making opportunities. I do not know if I was just raised differently then some and I am cautious of big time businesses or I am just one of those closet conspiracy theorists that feels that all trade is a scheam to manipulate the world in some way...but I digress.
Blogging is, as I mentioned earlier a type of civil journalism, that has no real perameters. The world of blogging seems to be limitless. I feel the companies offering compensation for "pumping up" reviews on sites such as these or on there own sites have a right to do so. I know I know, the whole situation about consumers having the right to know about products and such but consumers should also know the rights of freedom of speech. I feel the FTC stepping in would be a sort of censorship and the first step in huge business conglomerates to start making money off of the world of blogging.
A person using the internet takes a risk everytime they get online. If you want hardcore facts and not someones opinion then check out sites such as valid online news journals and newspapers that follow code of ethics that will not lead you astray. The internet is faceless and not always held to face consequences. Blogging is in my view a form of free speech and should not be censored in anyway. If you want to possibly deal with a person that is recieving compensation for services rendered such as advocating for a certain product by all means continue, but do not get mad when people say "I told you so...". Till next time...
Onward in peace and solidarity