For the last year or so, I've been warning my clients that the Federal Trade Commission is becoming more involved in regulating online commerce, specifically in terms of disclosures relating to online content. In particular, I've been telling companies that the FTC is likely to implement new guidelines that will bring blogs, Internet forums, message boards, word-of-mouth marketing, social media marketing, social commerce, and other forms of electronic and viral marketing in line with fair advertising practices that have not been updated in more than 25 years.

Well, earlier today, in a highly anticipated move, the FTC did just that. By a vote of 4-0, the Commission has approved new rules requiring bloggers and social media users to disclose payments they receive from companies for reviewing their products. The rules, which go into effect Dec. 1, give clear guidance to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act (warning: link takes you to a pdf file, not a Web page). read more...

There's no image--not an aerial shot of the Taj Mahal at dawn or of me as a baby--that isn't available for someone to download online. And chances are, most entrepreneurs and bloggers are doing it without paying for it.

Online photo theft is arguably one of the most rampant, underreported crimes on the internet. Perhaps for the first time, the problem has been quantified: Lawrence Gould, CEO of the microstock photo service Vivozoom today announced that as much as $10 billion is lost by the photo industry from the combined theft of stock and microstock images. read more...

If you're flirting with the idea of becoming an entrepreneur, there's a website just for you. Outright, a free online bookkeeping site, and web services provider Network Solutions have teamed up to launch UnintentionalEntrepreneur.com, a free online resource for aspiring business owners and the self-employed.

Tomorrow, Outright co-founder and CEO Kevin Reeth will be in Los Angeles hosting the second in a series of Unintentional Entrepreneur networking events. If you're in town, here's why you should attend. (Check the schedule for upcoming events in New York City, Washington DC and Atlanta.) read more...

The power of customer engagement is nothing new. What is new is that technologies and methodologies -- including the Internet, HTML 5, social networking, and user-generated and distributed content  -- have expanded the reach of customer engagement and its cousin, word-of-mouth advertising, and the speed at which it spreads. With social media engagement, word of mouth and engagement has become global and nearly instantaneous, and now according to a new study, shown to provide substantive business-related benefits to companies that effectively harness its power. read more...

The buzz in the geek world last week surrounded Google's announcement that it will roll out a computer operating system, Chrome, to compete with Microsoft's Windows franchise. The software isn't slated to hit the market until the middle of next year, but already a storm is brewing about which one of these tech titans will come out ahead.

Everyday business owners will be able to vote with their pocketbooks, too. Will they stay with the licensing fees, compatibility and convenience of Microsoft, or will they take a chance on an unknown system that happens to be free? read more...

An eye-tracking study of 25 people said to represent the average social-networking site users found that a majority of them approved of seeing advertisements and even engaged with ads while searching for products and reviews on their favorite social portals, according a report released this week.

The study, titled "Seeing Search Go Social," by search marketing agency Oneupweb, finds that 65 percent of that small sample that used sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find out about products ended up "engaged with sponsored ads within the first 10 seconds of their search. " read more...

For the majority of small-business respondents in the 2009 Small Business Attitudes & Outlook Survey, the economic recovery is nigh. Seventy percent anticipate moderate to significant growth this year (only 1 percent think they will close their businesses), and 47 percent expect to hire additional employees.

The survey, conducted by online marketing firm Constant Contact, reveals two things, said CEO Gail Goodman: the optimism and perseverance of business owners, and their ability to adapt to even the toughest economic conditions.

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Starting a business is not for the risk averse. But in an effort to help entrepreneurs assess just how much risk is associated with launching or running their business, StartupNation.com, a website that provides business advice and networking for entrepreneurs, recently introduced an Odds of Success Calculator.

The business valuation device calculates a business owner's odds of success based on eight factors: amount of capital investment, difficulty in obtaining funds, quality of financial management, degree of business planning, annual industry growth rate, management experience, industry experience and timeframe. read more...

In his new book The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You (Crown Business), business and technology journalist Michael S. Malone argues that a new generation of young Americans entering the workforce -- Generation Y -- isn't the best choice if you want loyal, hard-working, long-hour employees on your team.

"Managing this generation may not only be a nightmare, it may actually be impossible," Malone writes. "It is quite likely that some sizable percentage of these new workers (and, being the  so- called "echo" of the Baby Boom, their numbers are huge) will never work in a steady job on the payroll of a single employer. And an equally large segment may never know a career different from that of a 'permanent part-timer,' contractor, or consultant." read more...

If you assign mobile phones to employees, they might be liable for a quarter of the applicable taxes if new IRS rules under consideration go into effect.

The idea is to take some of the burden off business owners' backs. Already, a notice issued this week allows employers to forgo "minute-by-minute" documentation of employees' company phone use. read more...