I’m not necessarily proposing additional laws, but negative posts without disclosing a competing interest is just as suspect as astroturfing for your employer or client company. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the FTC agree : material relationships should be disclosed when posting comments, tweets, status updates and the like. understand this may not be news to many. However, I still see many people overlooking disclosure when it comes to posting negative comments or spreading negative news about competitors — especially on Twitter. Makes sense, right? MORE >>

The Social Media Guru will find gold in their own backyards instead of Corporate Astroturf. The Value Game is becoming increasingly generalized as more entrepreneurs seek to learn how to apply it to new economic realities. The first company to launch is Social Flights. Quickly funded, in full operation, booking jets and signing contracts, the Social Flights success trajectory has been truly remarkable. The Ingenesist Project is deploying several more applications of The Value Game.  Our next venture is to develop Reputation Management for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI).  MORE >>

The Glossary – Add to Your Vocabulary and Your Business Practices Astroturfing - These are blogs deliberately intended to create content that appears to come from a “grass roots&# organization but is actually being produced by a PAC, a PR firm, or some other groups wanting to influence a conversation without admitting their true goals or funding sources. See “Astroturfing&# above for more. It’s a hot topic all around, as social media lends itself to some highly unethical practices and characters! How far will you go and what damage does your brand risk? MORE >>

Sadly, Astroturf didn’t.). Tweet The future of business is not in measured, scrutinized answers or carefully planned initiatives. Business will soon be about near-instantaneous response ; about making the best decisions you can with the extremely limited information you have; about every customer being a reporter, and every reporter being a customer; about winning and losing customers in real time, every second of every day; and about a monumental increase in the availability of commentary about our companies. Business will be always on, always changing, always moving. Reward Systems. MORE >>

In fact, such an effort will likely create a damaged brand reputation a la Wal-Mart after it participated in several public astroturfing (the practice of undisclosed fake or inauthentic representation in public media) scandals. The following is draft material for the second edition of Now Is Gone , which is almost out of print. Comments may be used in the final edition. You can download the first drafted chapter of the new edition — Welcome to the Fifth Estate — for free. Many social networks serve as outposts for organizations. That means empowerment must occur. So let them! MORE >>