I was wondering about this the other day.  I get a lot of mail… call it direct mail, call it junk mail, I really don’t care.  Most of it is garbage, but on rare occasions I do get some useful items (typically coupons to my local car wash, which I’m always stoked to receive).  But most of what I receive goes straight into the recycling bin since I’m not in the market for new vertical blinds, fleece from LL Bean and I don’t want free panties from Victoria’s Secret.

Similar to what’s filling my real world mailbox, I often feel that a lot of what comes to my attention through Facebook or Twitter isn’t relevant or exciting to me.  And a big part of that may be due to fellow marketers pushing their clients non-stop.

Depending on who you speak with regarding peer-to-peer channels, the guidelines on disclosure can vary.  I subscribe to the “be obvious” school of judgment.  If you’re an employee of a company and you make a Facebook post about an event you have going on or new product your launching, it’s probably obvious to your friends that this is somewhat about your job (regardless of if your employer asked you to make the announcement or not).  On Twitter or in a message board, your profile can should reveal a lot about you.  When you’re a contractor (say part of an external PR support team, such as BBPR ), the lines tend to get a little blurred on what you’re posting because you really endorse it and what you’re endorsing because you’re getting paid.

As marketers, I really feel we need to be vigilant and ethical about how we communicate online.  Let’s say a large-scale PR firm launches a new campaign for a client.  Is it ethical for each person at the firm to post about “this cool new _____ I found” with feigned enthusiasm?  I’d say no, but that’s me.  Similarly, what if everyone at a particular company submitted a story to Digg because their employer asked them to (or they were paid to), that could very much skew what comes our way.  Are you hijacking Digg then?

(You can read the full article about the above image here: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2007/04/hacking_social_)

I don’t necessarily have the answer to this question, but I do believe a level of disclosure is needed for marketers and companies in general.  Otherwise…. well, Facebook is going to be a lot less fun.

If you were wondering if I disclose about when I promote my own clients online, just see below: