“We look at it from the perspective of the consumer and the principle being that a consumer has the right to know when they’re being pitched a product,” said Richard Cleland, assistant director of FTC’s advertising practices division. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s an email or Twitter or someone standing on a street corner.”

Freedom of speech advocates have expressed concern that this may breach 1st amendment rules while bloggers are questioning how the rules will be applied and enforced.

Ed Morrissey, a US conservative blogger, quoted by The Wall Street Journal said “If I get a free tube of toothpaste in the mail and say nice things about it on Twitter, Facebook, or in a PTA meeting, do I have to disclose it as a freebie or pay the $11,000 fine the FTC imposes? What kind of disclosure can one fit into a 140-character Twitter message, anyway?”

Bond has labelled his new way of doing business as “democratic consumerism” drawing comparisons with President Obama’s politics, “offering openess, transparency, collaboration and dialogue”.This is a confident move. Asda clearly feel secure enough about the root and branch value of their company and what it stands for, to start broadcasting directly from their own blogger base. It’s also a smart move in reputation management terms, as they create a volume of their own editorially controlled content.

It’s still PR, but not as we know it. With Matthew Freud lurking about in the background, old school skills are being put to work in the new social media age, managing reputation via new channels.

In political terms, Sarah Brown’s rise on Twitter could be significant. As Andy Beckett points out in today’s Guardian article ‘Can Sarah Brown rescue Labour?’ (including the odd comment from me) she now has 15 times the membership of the Labour party following her.

Although the content is deliberately not party political, she is effectively pressing voter flesh online, as she did in person at the Glenrothes by-election to great effect.

The Conservatives’s top Twitterer by comparison is probably Boris Johnson with 48K followers (the official conservative Twitter has 13K ) while the Lib Dems have 5K.

The survey found that while 86% of their sample said they were using social tools in some way  only 16% said they measured ROI.

More worryingly, 40% of respondents didn’t know if they COULD measure social media, though many of these presumably operate outside of online pr or marketing and are unfamiliar with the analytic options available to them.

The survey’s findings are really no surprise for a medium at the adoption phase of its cycle. While the silicon valley lead US is discussing how to improve measurement, the rest of the world is probably still looking at the new baby, wondering what to do with it.

Mashable has just posted their top 5 business blogging mistakes and already has 17 comments. So foolishly I’m going head to head with my own. Come on big man, let’s see what you’ve got (cue Victorian boxer type shuffle and arm movements).

1) Going off brand

Frankly we’re just waiting for the next Gerald Ratner like disaster to happen and it will probably come via social media. Too many senior egos operating off piste, off message, without a map and forgetting they represent their company.

2) Not telling anyone.

To maul the classic existential question, if a blog is written, in a remote wood with no one to read it, does it make a noise?  Blogs entries need publicising through social media channels and email to make sure your audience has a chance to read it.

3) Not posting regularly

There’s a direct correlation between frequency of posting and the number of views. Blogs allow you to reach out  every day – you couldn’t get away with that by email or post. Don’t post often enough though and your audience will assume you don’t have much to say.

4) Running a blog remote to the company website.

 It’s all about traffic. If you have compelling enough content, why would you want to send all the resulting traffic to a separate destination rather than your company or brand site where you can sell things?

5) DIY  

Because channels like email, Twitter, LinkedIn  are quick and cheap to set up, many companies assume they’ll be cheap to run and forget about a content budget. In new media terms, you are what you communicate and best not leave that to the intern, as Habitat found out in June. Employ a content provider that knows something about public relations.

Mashable’s top five blogging mistakes here

Those using social media in email may also be using the wrong channels. Silverpop’s research showed that, while links to Facebook, My Space and Twitter were included most often, Bebo, Delicious and LinkedIn had a higher percentage of share link clicks across the networks.

The content that performed best for sharing typically included a brand name or product in the subject line rather than a specific offer.

Silverpop’s white paper is available free for download here.

An apology was followed by an acknowledgement of past mistakes “This time we want to get it right”  and sensibly their tweeter wouldn’t be drawn on information about the mysterious intern who was blamed for the original micro-blogging misdemeanor.

The content and tone of their tweets, plus the absence of  product promotion suggests Habitat is expecting to go through a period of penance before starting to push its penant shades, faux flowers and topiaries once again.  

I wonder if this unnecessarily negative though. Twitter is an exciting, fun  medium and a more confident return with some clear benefits to customers signing up might have hit a better note.

Freedman International

Freedman, who specialise in global marcoms implementation, is switching from traditional to online PR in a bid to interact more closely with their international audience of marcoms professionals who use Freedman to design and run pan-regional brand campaigns.

“Online PR makes sense for us on a number of levels”, explains David Moody, Freedman International’s Director of Business Strategy,” our marcoms customers are based all over the world and are easier to reach online plus we use technology to help global brands gain speed and efficiency in their marketing programs -  so this  approach is on brand for us.”

Furlong PR will be responsible for Freedman’s blogging, micro-blogging and social media activities along with elements of organic SEO.

“This is a very exciting brief for us” said Furlong PR’s, MD Ross Furlong, “it combines all the disciplines of online PR and will be a great showcase for the combined forces of the new school. And of course unlike traditional PR, the results will be profoundly measurable through analytics software.”

Furlong PR was appointed following consultation with selected agencies.

PR Week Coverage here

It’s been a while since I was in Debenhams but from what I can remember, the basement men’s department is a labyrinth so on that basis alone, this is a welcome development.

Whether my phone would work in the basement or if they’d be able to help with my typical request ’do you have this shirt in XL’ without being able to see me or the shirt remains uncertain. In any case, I don’t suppose male, iphone toting media bods are their target market.

I suspect their main customer base is not going to be a big user of Twitter either. So why bother? This, like a few other recent campaigns with Twitter elements to them has the whiff of PR opportunism. PRs know journalists love Twitter and just that Debenhams are using it means they’re more likely to write about the sale – like I am here.

Beyond the spin though there’s a chance Twitter could just become the killer channel retailers are looking for to shift large quantities of stock in a wild fire sale. If Lance Armstrong could get 300 cyclists out on a rainy day in Paisley with 2 hours notice I can’t see why Debenhams couldn’t get 3,000 Oxford Street shoppers fighting over their half price handbags.

The rise of discount voucher shopping has been one of the online phenomenons of the recession, Brits love a bargain and Twitter could be the perfect unintrusive channel to light the sale fuse.

Social media marketing requires strategic thinking, joined up content and an understanding of the fast moving new channels. You need to be  part geek, marketer, pr, brand manager, creative and search engine optimiser. It will take a while before the people structures, particularly in large organisations catch up. Meanwhile, consider outsourcing to us..