Photo: striatic/Flickr

I wonder if others of you had the same experience I did this morning. Milk poured, cereal spoon in hand, I read in today’s NY Times that the Federal Trade Commission has voted to change its rules regarding online endorsements and testimonials in light of the rapidly evolving world of social media. If you are a blogger who gets paid by an advertiser, or if you receive free products and blog about them, you’ll have to disclose that information as of December 1st. This will have a practical impact, but the new rules also demonstrate a shift in philosophy, if you will, as the Times article states:

“…[f]or bloggers who review products, this means that the days of an unimpeded flow of giveaways may be over. More broadly, the move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print.”

What is your take on this, PRK readers? Will this change how you conduct and write your blogs? Do you feel these new rules will have an overall beneficial impact on the blogging world? What about food-related blogs? As you ponder, here’s a synopsis of the new rules, published by PC World.   

New Additions to our Community of Blogs
PRK has added several blogs to its homepage blogroll, including Doves and Figs (whose Peculiar Pickles just won a blue ribbon at the Topsfield Fair this past weekend; congratulations, Robin!), Basic Eating (my knowledge about quahogs just grew exponentially), the Cooks Den (see also PRK’s post of 10/1 on Counting Calories) , and I Am Gluten Free (mentioned in PRK’s post of 10/5). Thanks for everyone’s patience as we updated.