the intersection of life and grace

Following months of deliberation by the Federal Trade Commission and rumors throughout the social media marketing world, the FTC this week released it’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” to much buzz.  And, a little panic, I think, for bloggers, twitterers and facebookers who like to talk about their favorite goods and services, wondering what this all might mean for them.

It’s an 81-page document, in rather complex legal-governmental language.  You can read it by clicking here if you like [opens PDF document in a new window].

First, because I’ve fielded a few questions about this from the reviewers I work with on content for clients, I want to define what the new regulations say about bloggers – as I understand it. Disclaimer:  I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice, and if I learn something new about it, I’ll update this post.

Disclosure

If a company gives you product or money or any other kind of award or compensation in return for your posting about them or their product on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site, you (the blogger) need to say so clearly.  The consequence for not doing so includes potentially hefty fines, but the report does not delineate what to expect for certain infractions, nor how specifically it will be enforced.

Now, if you review books, resources or music for another outlet, such as YMX, and repost your work on your blog with link attribution (as that site has permitted), you need only be clear that you were given the resource to review for that outlet.  It is pretty clear that product is given to media outlets to review, and you’re (in the case of YMX) reprinting with permission with link attribution.  If you link to your work on another commercial site from your  personal Twitter/Facebook, etc, it seems clear to me that you got something in return for the work (product or  some other consideration).

If you are an affiliate marketer – say for amazon, or referral link prizes, and the like – you need to say so under these new rules.  If you make money on it, you need to say so more clearly than ever.  Here is a good overview of the new guidelines from the corporate marketing point of view.

About this blog

Most reviews on this blog are reprints of my work for hire, primarily at YS/YMX. Those include links back to the original publication page.

A few times publishers or companies have given me books to review, or something to give away. While it was clear enough at the time, I will be more specific about that going forward.  I have never been paid cash for any post on this blog, or anything I’ve posted on my personal social networking accounts.  I intend to add a disclosure page to this blog to acknowledge affiliate relationships so there is no confusion.

All very formal, but I have no problem disclosing this if it prevents confusion on the part of others. Clarity is good, and assuring readers that my thoughts and opinions are my own even if I got a free book is something I’m happy to do.  It’s necessary to help people who research purchases on the internet tell the difference between advertising and customer opinion, because the line had become blurry. Ethics are important.

Now, if we could just get the same kind of clear public disclosure from politicians and lobbyists, I’d be thrilled.

Believers, Christ-followers of any denominational and doctrinal stripe – I’m talking to you. And me.  Stop it. The whining.  The complaining.  Really.  Before you speak, or type, another word about:

• a devotional practice or church tradition you have never participated in and therefore believe it must be specifically prohibited by scripture
• a politician or government policy, or the President, with clearly ill-considered sarcasm and disrespect  and nary an ounce of constructive thought (much less action)
• you get the idea, right?

I see a lot of facebook status updates (and their attendant comments), and twitter updates, and blog comments, and forum comments over the course of a week.  I have to say, a lot of them are whining or complaining.  The rest are fine – running commentary on life.

I’m only talking about the sort that fling sarcastic, unhappy criticism out into the cyber world and are never followed up with contstructive action thereafter.  Think – there are a lot of people who can see what you’ve said on the internet, people who may not be your direct “friends” on a particular social network.  They may not all be as smart, enlightened, mature, or skilled in discerning satire as are you.  And, in the written word, that discernment is mighty difficult because 85% of communication is non-verbal.  Words are evocative, and 100% open to interpretation.  [Public service announcement pause to tell you that I am completely calm, not angry, and not kidding about the subject of this post.]

Therefore, before you or I type another sarcastic, caustic, crushing word on your blog,  a disucssion forum, facebook or twitter status… stop.  Are you representing Christ accurately? Are you doing more than throwing words into air?  If not, why not?

What do the scriptures say about tearing each other down?

How about tearing down those who do not believe?

Maybe, even if you don’t practice the penitential season of Lent, you could just try, for the next 7 weeks, to:

“[S]et an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” [1 Timothy 4:12b-16]

And:

“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” [Galatians 5:13-15]

We can communicate more clearly, more effectively, if we first heeding Paul’s teaching about his message (that of Christ) to the Corinthians in written and personally-spoken form:

“You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present” [2 Corinthians 10:7-11]

Don’t hide behind your computer screen if you aren’t going to act on the words in real life.

Those of you who read these posts via RSS or email may not notice the side column section titled “Others’ View”.  It contains items from blogs I regularly read that I find interesting or challenging, and I share them through my Google Reader’s shared items function.  You can visit the site, or subscribe to that RSS here, or Google users can connect with me to see my shared items in their own GReader.

Moments ago I shared an item called “The Pope’s Comments About Gays and Lesbians” from Andrew Marin’s blog Love is An Orientation.  I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Andy, he’s the real deal.  A Bible-believing, passion-driven human who can’t stand the injustice he sees perpetrated by Christians against one small segment of the population who are same-sex attracted.  I can’t wait to read Andy’s book, coming from IVP in April 2009, and also called Love is An Orientation.  I think it’s a HUGE, much needed, paradigm shift in the “no, my way” “no, my way” conversation (can you even call it a conversation?) that rages in the Church.

Please go read the post.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Click here… go read it!

From a post at Gifted for Leadership:

I’m tired of hearing people speak “for women,” making claims about who we are and what we want. I hear constant references to “women voters” as if we were a voting bloc or a powerless group who needs special representation. We’re not powerless; we’re not exceptions to the norm; we’re not even a minority group. We’re slightly more than half the population, and the only thing we all have in common is a small piece of our genetic code. We don’t all think alike and care about the same things. Would anyone ever be so ridiculous as to think of men in the same way? If a handful of powerful woman can speak on behalf of all women, why do we need so many powerful men? Who are they speaking for?

Believe me: I’m not bashing men. In fact, the real offenders here are women who claim to speak for all of us, and women who let them. Why do so many of us want every other women to think, act, behave, live, speak, and believe as we do? Why do we feel the need to exercise this kind of control? Do we believe it legitimizes us? Is it a symptom of loneliness or insecurity? Do we still believe women are second-class citizens?

Regardless of the outcome of this election, clearly times have changed. The next administration will be like no other. This is the end of the era of the stiff, dull, crabby old guys in suits. Let’s hope the “I speak for all women” claim ends here too.

I’ve been using feedburner to syndicate posts on this blog since it moved to pattigibbons.com, and honestly, it’s a great idea inconsistently executed.  First, the issue was the service taking a l-o-n-g time to send posts out to subscribers’ feed readers.  Then, email subscribers weren’t getting all the posts.  Lately, the number of subscribers fluctuates wildly, so I have no idea if the number is accurate.  Of course, feedburner is now part of google, but that hasn’t seemed to improve things (and I’m a google apps fan!).  I guess I’m just not a happy customer.

Does anyone know of/use another RSS service?  If so, please leave a comment and let me know your preference.

Like a lot of bloggers, I use Feedburner to syndicate my blog posts, along with the FeedSmith plug-in for WordPress to redirect folks who subscribed some other way.  It’s a great service that we also use for our Youth Ministry Exchange content feeds.  It helps keep track of what content is read and interesting bits and pieces of other information that’s useful in numerous ways.

But I have a frustrating problem and I can’t seem to get a response.  In comparison to other sites also using Feedburner, my content seems to take a very long time to get out to readers.  When something is published on friends’ blogs or a YMX site like All Access or Youth Ministry Tips, it gets to readers within seconds.  My content takes from 1-5 hours!

I realize that my posts aren’t generally breaking news and are rarely urgent, but clearly something just isn’t working right with my Feedburner feed.  I’ve installed all the right code, done all the troubleshooting steps, and even posted on their help forums with no results.   Anyone have any ideas why this lengthy delay happens?

If you don’t want competition, you must not care enough about the people you are trying to reach. Many think that without competition they are in the perfect position to realize success. I think without competition we’re in the perfect position to never realize success because it means that no one else cares about what we care about. And if no one else is sharing the same cares I have, maybe I am caring about the wrong things.

Read the whole post here at Church Marketing Sucks. 

I really enjoy the wit and wisdom in the art from the Adventures of ASBO Jesus. Today’s installment is the perfect description of my feelings about the sub-zero and single-digit temperatures we’ve been having. (you can click it to see it full-size)

Out with the old, in with the new!  I was having some issues with the fun working girl template, and found this nifty 4-column one I thought I’d give a go.  It’s a pretty dramatic change!

Speaking of changes, you’ll notice a small square ad in the upper left column.  It’s part of a new Youth Ministry Exchange, LLC venture Adam and I have recently launched (after months of tossing the idea around).  We see it as a way to connect youth ministry bloggers, youth ministry vendors (services, publishers), and youth ministry folks in general, together – networking is always good.  For more information about the Youth Ministry Ad Network, click here to go to the network blog.

Brian tagged me to answer that question from his old blog, after he moved to a new blog.  Now that I’m over that minor confusion, I’ll answer.

I wish I was better at (man, this is really going to sound dumb, but it’s the truth)… housekeeping.  In actuality, I wish I was more motivated about housekeeping especially since I spend the majority of my days at home.  I much prefer spending time with people rather than cleaning implements and products.  In a household with 5 busy people, the problem is really more about clutter than dirt and dust… but anyway… that’s my honest answer.

Hm, so now to tag some folks.  How about Cathy, Angie, Mel and Kristen… girl power, oh yeah!