Book Bloggers fear new FTC disclosure rules? Link to WorldCat!

As most of the rest of the United States gets ready for some serious holiday shopping (or perhaps, unshopping as the case may be this year) at the end of this month, the bloggers among us--at least, the amateur ones--will be readying themselves to start a program of full disclosure because of a change on Dec. 1 with new FTC rules for testimonials.

Full what? Full disclosure meaning that a blogger or a person on a social network needs to make it clear if s/he is being compensated for the review of a product. It could be that a company or publishing house sent him a free product sample, which is fine. When he reviews the sample in his blog, he needs to make it clear how he got the sample. Or if someone who works for a company goes in and bashes a competitor's site, then she needs to disclose their employer. More about this change over on Wired and PC World blogs. Also, Publishers Weekly reassures us that the rules are not aimed at individual bloggers as much as the advertisers.

You may be wondering where WorldCat fits in with all of these new rules. Well for one thing, anything the WorldCat bloggers receive is immediately eaten with gusto. And we give high praise for baked goods. What? You're saying you've never seen anything about baked goods on this blog? Well readers, if someone ever sends us holiday cookies (hint hint), we will review them and say nice things about you. AND disclose that they were a gift.

But seriously, if you're an bookselling site affiliate and are concerned that doing a review (and receiving your 10 cents) might get you in hot water with the FTC, then you can start linking to WorldCat citations and doing reviews in WorldCat instead. Not only does it give your readers all the available formats and editions, but it also lets them find the material in a library near them. (In addition to having several purchase options, too.)

So get those links and reviews ready for WorldCat!