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Amazon Makes It Easy For Affiliates To Tweet Offers… and Break The Law?
By Anna Johnson on November 8th, 2009Last week Amazon introduced a ‘no brainer’ initiative for affiliates in the Amazon Associates program – a one-click way to send a promotional offer on Twitter.
As explained in the email sent to members of Amazon Associates last week, as an affiliate logged into your Associate account, you simply click on the ‘Share on Twitter’ button associated with the product you want to promote and a new browser window will open with a tweet ready to go.
The tweet includes a shortened URL that will redirect people to your affiliate link and all you need to do is edit the message before sending the tweet to your followers.
All well and good, but here’s what to watch out for…
Given the United States Federal Trade Commission’s updated ‘FTC Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising’ you’ll need to be careful about tweeting affiliate offers without making it clear that you are, in fact, an affiliate.
So, as quick and easy as it may be to tweet an Amazon promotion to your Twitter followers, you’d be wise to let them know that you’re not doing so purely out of the goodness of your heart… but are actually promoting a product for which you’ll receive a commission if they buy through your link.
As burdensome as doing this may sound – and as difficult as it may be given Twitter’s 140 character limit – this is, in my mind, one of the implications of the FTC’s new approach to promoting products and services.
Sure, a lot of affiliates won’t do what I’m suggesting – whether for Amazon’s products or for other merchant’s products – but, personally, I would rather be safe than sorry…
And maybe Amazon might do itself and its affiliates a favor by emphasizing the need for ‘full disclosure’ when tweeting promotional links once the FTC’s updated guidelines take effect on December 1, 2009…
Source: MG Siegler, “Amazon Turns On The Twitter Pump To Fuel Referral Fees,” TechCrunch, November 4, 2009
