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.

I wasn’t going to blog about this, but I’m changing my mind under the influence of so very many complaints about the most recent changes on Facebook.  If you aren’t a Facebook user, you’re in a minority of webizens, and I won’t be offended if you skip this post.

Yes, the latest change was a big one.  It took all of the information you and all your connections are producing – all of which was already displayed on the homepage – standardized its appearance and combined it into one stream of information.  All of this information was already public, but placed differently.  Like it, love it, hate it, the responsibility for the now-all-equally-valued information was put into the hands of each individual user.  Previously, I could “vote up” or “vote out” certain types of information.  Now, I have to count on my connected Facebook Friends to control their output.

A few questions to ask yourself, as a Facebook user:

1. Do I want all my friends to see on their home page that I sent an Egg/Plant/Poke to or threw a cyber-sheep (or, my personal fav a barrel full of monkeys) at  [fill in name of other friend here]?
2. Do I want all my friends to see what I wrote on our mutual friend’s wall?
3. Do I want all my friends to see what I wrote on a poll or group discussion?
4. Are there some  people I’m connected with I’d like to check on first, before I scan the whole news feed for the rest of what’s going on?
5. Have I ever reviewed what applications I’ve authorized access to my information?
6. Do I get email from Facebook I don’t want?

Depending upon your answers to the above, you may be thinking you’d like to fix what you’re floating into the Facebook information stream, and take some control over your Facebook life.  Here’s how, from your logged in Facebook account:

Applications

If you want to amuse yourself with myriad apps, sending gifts and so on, that’s great.  You may not want everyone to have to read about it (in fact, most people probably don’t want to know, for the most part).

• On the top of your Facebook, there’s a blue bar.
• Find SETTINGS > APPLICATION SETTINGS which will return a list of your most recently used applications.
• In the menu above the list, select AUTHORIZED to see all the apps you’ve ever given permission to access your profile.
• Next to each there is a link EDIT SETTINGS from which you can select “Never publish any stories from [name of app]” or “Prompt me before publishing any stories from [name of app]“.
• Note, you can also click the X at the end of the line for each app to delete it if you don’t use it.  Think of it as spring cleaning for your Facebook profile.

Wall posts

• From that blue menu bar at the top of the page,
• SETTINGS > PRIVACY SETTINGS
• NEWS FEED & WALL
• Returns a list of check boxes where you can choose which actions you want to appear on your wall, and therefore appear in the global news feed on the homepage.
• This is a great time to check your PROFILE privacy settings, too.

Emails

• SETTINGS > ACCOUNT SETTINGS
• NOTIFICATIONS
• Select which events you want emails about.

Friend Groups

Want to see updates from certain folks sorted out of the general home page stream?  This is the coolest new use of an existing Facebook feature!

• Blue bar again… FRIENDS
• Left side, MAKE A NEW LIST, follow the prompts to create your group.
• You can have as many as you want, and you can put friends in more than one group.

Yes, it will take a little time, but you’ll be so much happier with the results!  Happy Facebooking!

Customer service.

The macbook pro notebook computer I use all day, every day, isn’t the one I originally purchased.  I was a free replacement under the terms of my applecare warranty, bestowed upon me when the part for my 2-year-old powerbook G4 notebook was taking too long to come in.  I blogged about that here – in June 2006.

It probably doesn’t surprise the folks who know me that some of the keys on this computer were looking a little worn.  Recently, a few of them needed to be pressed harder to produce their assigned character.  This week, one of them (the L key) decided it wasn’t going to work at all so I made an appointment for my local apple store’s genius bar.

Carl, the genius helping me, looked at my keyboard, he said “you’re a writer or something, aren’t you?” See, he is a genius after all.  Carl told me that my keyboard would be replaced, and that the technician could fix it within the hour if I wanted to wait.

The best part?  The computer is still under the terms of my applecare warranty.  Because it was a customer service replacement, it was eligible to finish out the 10 months of extended care left on the powerbook’s contract.  And, it was eligible to have a new applecare agreement take effect from that point, which takes the warranty on it to June 2009.  The warranty replacement of 2 batteries, a power adapter and the keyboard more than cover the price of the applecare agreement.

And, that kind of customer service – after not even being able to get help from Dell or Microsoft when their products were defective and still under warranty – is why I love Apple.

I had an important reminder today – being kind is powerful.

I received a medical bill today, something I knew should have been covered by our insurance – something expensive.  I admit, I was annoyed because this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened and it often takes several calls to the provider and/or the insurance company to get things resolved. Not fun.

I decided to start with the insurance company this time around, placing the call and keying in all the pertinent account numbers and birth dates.  It always takes me to the same person, so I asked her how she was doing, and stated that I had a mystery I hoped she could help me solve.  We talked while she found the right claim in the system, explained she could see that it had been billed with the wrong diagnosis code but that she couldn’t tell me what that was.  I could have gotten upset (it is silly that she could see the error but not explain it to me), but I shared the details of that visit and asked her, “What do I do? You’re the one who can point me in the right direction.” She put me on hold, for a little while actually, and came back to say that she’d reprocessed the claim and it was going to be paid in full.  Then, remarkably, the thanked me for not yelling at her.

“Most people who call here are quite unkind,” she shared.

“I can imagine,” I said, “because they only call when there’s something wrong, and there’s often the potential of a lot of money involved. I bet it’s very rarely because of anything you personally did, but you’re the only person they can talk to.”

So, I don’t think she did anything for me that was “above and beyond” her job, but I thought the reminder of the impression kindness can make on a person whose job it is to handle problems all day was an important one.  Something I’m going to try to keep in mind as the holiday shopping season arrives – with it’s increased traffic and lines and general frenzy.

I love the YS Conventions.  The first time I attended was in Philadelphia in 1997.  The theme, Only a Fool, hit me right in the heart as I was in full-on ache to be in youth ministry full time, and attempting some discernment about how, when, where that could even happen, or even if it was supposed to.

I was already a “seasoned” volunteer (who really knew nothing!) of close to 10 years, had never once had a ministry budget.  I spent hours wandering around in the store carefully choosing what I could afford to buy with my own money to stretch the most Kingdom impact out of for the kids at the church I was serving.  I don’t know if the person who noticed my painstaking browsing was a YS staffer or a volunteer, but after a while that person started talking to me and (because it’s so difficult to do this) pulled my story out of me.  She was very encouraging, helped me make some choices and check out my purchases, which came in just a few cents less than what I had to spend.

I went on with my conference day, full of speakers and music and places where God spoke and I listened, places where I spoke and God listened.  None of those places was clearer than the sight I beheld upon returning to my hotel room to find the door decorated with handmade signs and streamers thanking me, by name, for loving kids sacrificially.  I stood in that hallway and cried.  I sat in that hallway and cried some more.  Once I could see again, I noticed the bulging white plastic bag of goodies.  Much of the resource material I’d considered but left behind in my deliberations was in that bag, along with a signed copy of Following Christ by Joseph Stowell.  His talk that weekend was a marker for me, and I’ve re-read or referenced that book a dozen times over the years. An incredible, supernatural bit of affirmation and encouragement, made possible because someone was paying attention.

No surprise, then, that each of the YS Conventions I’ve attended since – I’ve lost count, maybe 5 or 6 – have been with the firm intention of connecting and listening for the purpose of encouraging.  While that has looked a little different every time, that’s my heart when I go.  That moment of encouragement was pivotal for me in continuing the journey, and I’m willing to bet that YS staffer/volunteer had no idea it would lead to a 20+ year commitment to sharing the Seriously Ridiculous love of Christ with kids and youth workers.

PS – Oh, and thanks, God via YS, for that nice full-circle thing you did on the themes for me, I love it when you do things like that!

Today was the end of my design contest at 99designs.  In all there were 74 different submissions from 28 designers over the 7 days, each working to represent the business I described to them.  If you click here you can see the winning design, and many of the others (some were withdrawn before the end).

The design I chose fit the fun and professional look I was hoping for. And I’m looking forward to putting it to use on cards, documents and a new website.  Thanks to all of you who shared your preferences and input with me!

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.

I had the chance to visit for a bit today with Bob, the entrepreneur behind www.thepoddrop.com, what a great guy!  His growing company repairs iPods and similar electronics – everything from batteries to broken screens to hard drives, name it.  The prices are a fraction of what it would cost to replace the iPod.

Adam and I paid a call to him in the basement which houses the website part of the business because he’s one of our advertisers on YMX, but he’s also got a great story.  My son Tim came along to see if the battery on his (old) 3rd generation iPod could be replaced.  Not only could it be replaced, but the part needed was on-hand, and it was fixed in pretty short order by Dave (who does much of that sort of work).  It charged for a while as we chatted with Bob.

Long story short, if you need your iPod repaired, or need parts for it, or have questions about it, I highly recommend www.thepoddrop.com (866-929-DROP).

Our latest Worst Customer Service Ever award goes to – Frank at the corporate Sprint store in Crossgates Mall.

Last evening Tom, convinced by the very sweet batting eyelashes of his baby girl, agreed to take Cathie to the Sprint store to buy the phone she’s worked hard and saved her own money to buy. Moments before leaving the house for the 10-minute drive to the mall she phoned the store to confirm they had the phone in the color she wanted in stock. The representative, Frank, told Cathie that there were 2 and she replied she was on her way to get one.  Off she went with daddy, her own cash in hand.

Upon arriving at the store (15 minutes after the phone call) another representative was helping Cathie with her transaction.  The rep went to the stock room and returned empty-handed saying there were none.  Cathie explained that Frank told her just a few minutes ago that there were 2, to which the over-hearing Frank retorted “you didn’t tell me to hold one.”  Cathie was not a happy girl standing there with cash in her hand; observing this, Frank said “go to Best Buy, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Uh, yeah, great customer service attitude there, Frank.  Way to go, lying to customers about stock-on-hand and then making it their fault.  Of course you didn’t understand “I’ll be right there” to mean she was coming there immediately to purchase the phone. And, by the way, you really ticked off her dad, too, who will likely be calling the company you work for today to express how poorly you handled the entire situation with Cathie, as well as with the other customers who were also being treated with disdain by you.

The BCS system is broken. Though, broken somehow implies that it ever worked to actually accomplish the goal of determining a championship. It has rarely, if ever, accomplished that by anything other than a fluke.

This college football bowl season has been largely comprised of woeful mismatches. While lots of whole-hearted football has been played, it’s clear that something needs to happen. If a playoff works so well in the NFL (and other sports), perhaps that’s something the NCAA could re-consider? The titles would have more credibility. The games would likely be better.