Good news! I finally got a clear answer. After having a lengthy discussion with someone at the FTC, my lawyer has informed that it will not apply to videos or blog posts posted before December 1, 2009. This should help calm a lot of people down.
Additionally, gifts and prizes are exempt from the guidelines...
Also, according to the Canadian Federal Government, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, regardless of what the FTC says, the new guidelines will not apply to Canadians. CBC News Article
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Why The Mass Hysteria???
I have to say that a day after posting the FTC video, I just don't get what people are getting all excited over. I have spent countless hours replying to each and every comment to try to help people and calm them down. As I mentioned in the sidebar of the video, the intention of this video was never to scare anyone. Yet somehow my video has caused mass hysteria.
I have added many annotations to my video to try to help people to realize that this whole thing isn't as scary as they are making it out to be. I really hope it helps. I feel a strong sense of responsibility and loyalty to my subscribers and I want to do whatever I can to help people.
There is no need to delete videos. We don't know if it applies to older videos yet, and even if it does, it's just a simple matter of adding information to the sidebar. There is nothing to be scared or frightened about. People are deleting videos, deleting channels, and creating new channels, etc. Never once in my video did I say that people should delete their videos, and I feel terrible that this is happening. Please do NOT delete your videos. There is no reason to do this.
Some people are also commenting that they might stop making videos. Again, there is absolutely no reason to stop making videos. It's just an addition to the sidebar, and we will all adjust to it over time. It is not as scary or difficult as everybody is making it out to be.
I have spent pretty much most of the past 48 hours replying to comments and trying to calm people down. I just want to put everyone's mind at ease that this will be a very easy transition and there won't really be a dramatic change. Adding information to the sidebar isn't that huge of a deal.
I'm going to continue answering comments and questions. All questions and concerns are important to me, and I want to be able to help as many people as possible. I just hope the mass hysteria stops soon, and that people are soon able to realize that it really isn't that scary.
I have added many annotations to my video to try to help people to realize that this whole thing isn't as scary as they are making it out to be. I really hope it helps. I feel a strong sense of responsibility and loyalty to my subscribers and I want to do whatever I can to help people.
There is no need to delete videos. We don't know if it applies to older videos yet, and even if it does, it's just a simple matter of adding information to the sidebar. There is nothing to be scared or frightened about. People are deleting videos, deleting channels, and creating new channels, etc. Never once in my video did I say that people should delete their videos, and I feel terrible that this is happening. Please do NOT delete your videos. There is no reason to do this.
Some people are also commenting that they might stop making videos. Again, there is absolutely no reason to stop making videos. It's just an addition to the sidebar, and we will all adjust to it over time. It is not as scary or difficult as everybody is making it out to be.
I have spent pretty much most of the past 48 hours replying to comments and trying to calm people down. I just want to put everyone's mind at ease that this will be a very easy transition and there won't really be a dramatic change. Adding information to the sidebar isn't that huge of a deal.
I'm going to continue answering comments and questions. All questions and concerns are important to me, and I want to be able to help as many people as possible. I just hope the mass hysteria stops soon, and that people are soon able to realize that it really isn't that scary.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
You, Me and the FTC ~ The Guidelines Affect Everyone!
Are you ready for December 1st, 2009? If you have a YouTube channel the new FTC guidelines affect YOU directly - regardless of your venue... Failure to comply equals an $11,000 fine, so make sure you're ready! It also affects all social media such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages...
It doesn't matter whether you are from the US or not - if your videos are viewable in the US, or your blog posts are visible to people in the US, then these guidelines still apply to you.
Please don't shoot the messenger... There are a lot of people commenting that I made this video to scare people. The intention of this video was never to scare or frighten anyone. I made this video to be helpful, and I was under no obligation to do so. I made this video to make you guys aware of the new guidelines and to provide you with links to the guidelines.
This video applies more to the YouTube end of things. There is a significantly lower risk of being falsely reported in the blogosphere.
Some people have said things about having to disclose every time we use a product. The reason they say we have to disclose every time we use a product, is because when we use a product in makeup tutorials it is considered by the FTC to be an endorsement, because we always say the product name.
Some people are saying that I can't read - I'm sorry, but I've read the guidelines several times and have done much research on the subject. I've also had a lawyer look the guidelines over to help ensure that I will be in compliance.
There are also people saying that the FTC states that products we purchase with our own money aren't considered endorsements. This is absolutely correct - but you still need to disclose or the FTC won't have any way of knowing that you paid for it with your own money. This is another reason to keep receipts.
There are people asking why YouTube hasn't given them any notice. It's not YouTube it's the FTC and the FTC released these guidelines to the general public a couple of months ago, although they do not come in affect until December 1st, 2009. YouTube has nothing to do with it. The FTC themselves will be regulating and monitoring this.
Additionally, for the FTC to notify everyone, they would have to contact everyone on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Fan Pages, all blogging platforms and various other forms of social media. They obviously aren't going to do that. The FTC made the guidelines public knowledge a few months ago.
There are also people saying that they don't think anything will come out of this because the FTC doesn't ding people for downloading videos. Well, guess what...nobody reports you for downloading videos - however we post our videos on a website filled with haters and trolls everyday. I have been false flagged and one star dinged many, many times. This just gives the haters and trolls one more thing they can do to us, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will falsely report people.
It's plain and simple - please don't shoot the messenger. All I did was make a video to make you aware of the new guidelines. I tried to spell everything out as well as I could and I provided links as well. There is no reason to get scared or upset, just take the necessary steps to protect yourself and to comply.
Quite frankly, I've been false flagged and one star dinged on YouTube enough times that I'm going to protect myself. I will be able to rest assured that I have taken all of the necessary steps to protect myself in the event that a hater or troll falsely reports me. It's just about doing what you need to do to keep all your ducks in a row.
Here are links to more information about the FTC guidelines and how they apply to you:
The Official FTC Guidelines
More from the FTC(this one has the link I mentioned)
More articles:
http://mashable.com/2009/10/05/ftc-blogger-endorsements/
http://www.itbusinessedge.com
FTC YouTube video from their channel (you will notice that she never says "no we won't sue bloggers" she says "that's not why we made these guidelines - very vague explanation : FTC Video
Please read the guidelines, and do your research. Don't be in the dark on December 1, 2009!
It doesn't matter whether you are from the US or not - if your videos are viewable in the US, or your blog posts are visible to people in the US, then these guidelines still apply to you.
Please don't shoot the messenger... There are a lot of people commenting that I made this video to scare people. The intention of this video was never to scare or frighten anyone. I made this video to be helpful, and I was under no obligation to do so. I made this video to make you guys aware of the new guidelines and to provide you with links to the guidelines.
This video applies more to the YouTube end of things. There is a significantly lower risk of being falsely reported in the blogosphere.
Some people have said things about having to disclose every time we use a product. The reason they say we have to disclose every time we use a product, is because when we use a product in makeup tutorials it is considered by the FTC to be an endorsement, because we always say the product name.
Some people are saying that I can't read - I'm sorry, but I've read the guidelines several times and have done much research on the subject. I've also had a lawyer look the guidelines over to help ensure that I will be in compliance.
There are also people saying that the FTC states that products we purchase with our own money aren't considered endorsements. This is absolutely correct - but you still need to disclose or the FTC won't have any way of knowing that you paid for it with your own money. This is another reason to keep receipts.
There are people asking why YouTube hasn't given them any notice. It's not YouTube it's the FTC and the FTC released these guidelines to the general public a couple of months ago, although they do not come in affect until December 1st, 2009. YouTube has nothing to do with it. The FTC themselves will be regulating and monitoring this.
Additionally, for the FTC to notify everyone, they would have to contact everyone on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Fan Pages, all blogging platforms and various other forms of social media. They obviously aren't going to do that. The FTC made the guidelines public knowledge a few months ago.
There are also people saying that they don't think anything will come out of this because the FTC doesn't ding people for downloading videos. Well, guess what...nobody reports you for downloading videos - however we post our videos on a website filled with haters and trolls everyday. I have been false flagged and one star dinged many, many times. This just gives the haters and trolls one more thing they can do to us, and I have no doubt in my mind that they will falsely report people.
It's plain and simple - please don't shoot the messenger. All I did was make a video to make you aware of the new guidelines. I tried to spell everything out as well as I could and I provided links as well. There is no reason to get scared or upset, just take the necessary steps to protect yourself and to comply.
Quite frankly, I've been false flagged and one star dinged on YouTube enough times that I'm going to protect myself. I will be able to rest assured that I have taken all of the necessary steps to protect myself in the event that a hater or troll falsely reports me. It's just about doing what you need to do to keep all your ducks in a row.
Here are links to more information about the FTC guidelines and how they apply to you:
The Official FTC Guidelines
More from the FTC(this one has the link I mentioned)
More articles:
http://mashable.com/2009/10/05/ftc-blogger-endorsements/
http://www.itbusinessedge.com
FTC YouTube video from their channel (you will notice that she never says "no we won't sue bloggers" she says "that's not why we made these guidelines - very vague explanation : FTC Video
Please read the guidelines, and do your research. Don't be in the dark on December 1, 2009!
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