Bryan Person, the founder of the Social Media Breakfast concept, will lead us in a discussion about the advent of sponsored conversations on blogs, Twitter and other social networks. With many companies recognizing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, some bloggers are getting paid to write posts and tweets. The FTC has taken note of this and are considering passing some guidelines this fall which, if approved, will empower the FTC to assess penalties to bloggers who don't disclose that they are being compensated. There are many services, like IZEA, that facilitate the hook-up between companies, bloggers and now tweeters. Some of these services require disclosure already (IZEA) and others do not.

We will have a lively discussion about this issue including questions like:



- In what cicumstances are sponsored conversations ethical?

- If someone discloses that a post is sponsored, how, if at all, does it impact credibility?

- What about free stuff, does getting free trial products or experieces constitute a sponsorship?

- How will all of this pay-for-=play affect the internet culture, if at all?

What other questions do you think we should cover? Add them here and we will address them together when we meet.