Continuing the discussion around instagram influencers and ethics

[bawbles]

Continued from old thread

All That's Pretty has announced she's quit her job as an estate agent and is going full time as a blogger. I hope she doesn't change. I really like her.

I've never heard of her before, I had a look and she says she is doing a big build, as well as the blogging? She looks nice though....and transparent with her ads?? I may follow. I like seeing house projects.

@bawbles I thought you may be as amused as I was to see Laura F had a #ad today, with Geox shoes of all people ! I appear to have unfollowed her or she is lost in my algorithmic dumpster so she doesn't crop up on my feed often, but I think this may be the first ad I have seen on her feed? Perhaps after all this time she has worked out how to monetise her Insta!

@ChirpieBirdie I hadn’t seen that but just looked

It’s definitely the first time she’s ever clarified an advert/paid partnership/sponsored/anything (and we are all clear she gets a lot of freebies)

Well she should be commended for dipping her toe into the #WWED (what would Erica do) world of transparent influencing, let's hope its a permanent move and not that she felt it important to make it clear she was wearing Geox shoes because she was paid to do so . Forgot how lovely her feed was though, so dreamy.

I'm developing a series on Instagram aimed at sharing best practices amongst the community. Who is consistently getting it right? Why should businesses chose them to market their product and why do followers invest in their recommendations.

I'd like to hear from Influencers willing to share how they determine what labels to use to define posts that they've received any kind of compensation for.

I'd also like to hear from followers willing to share their experiences of transparency or dishonesty on the grid.

Sounds intriguing @influencersuncovered. Is your interest personal or professional?

@ChirpieBirdie

Personal but I'm on a journey to take things less personally and see both sides of the gram.

Shouldn’t you know the answer to that?

Strategy is still in development

Yes, a big build too @ChirpieBirdie. And yes, I think she's pretty transparent as far as I've seen. She does a fair bit of Boden promo stuff, but it's believable that she'd actually wear it.

Should be interesting watching the build stuff from the start. I did enjoy her estate agency stuff as well though (she used to do video tours of some of the homes that she was doing the viewings for and I'm a saddo and enjoyed them!).

You could get a lot of what you're looking for by reading all the instamums/influencers threads on here from the past 6-12 months @influencersuncovered. Where is the info going to be shared if you don't mind me asking? Might be worth starting a new thread specifically for your project.

I've been on this and IG for a long time @spongebobgrannypants but what I'm getting is that nothing is said on the IG platform as it's removed or responded to with accusations of trolling. So all of the critique occurs off grid which then looks like it's Inst v Mumsnet when it's the same people but feel censored on the grid I wasn't sure how people would respond to this instagram account focused on facilitating the conversations from both perspectives.

I’ve been lurking on these threads for a while, and I just wanted to make a point about the ASA. I think some of you are very naive about the remit and powers of the ASA. It’s not an organisation that has any regulatory teeth. It’s actually run BY the advertising industry. They have no power whatsoever, apart from the ability to publicly declare that an advert was in contravention of their guidelines, which achieves very little unless it’s a high profile company which the press then picks up on.

All the ASA does is draw up a voluntary code of practice for the industry to follow. It’s got no teeth and the consequences of breaking the code are not very onerous at all.

the worst bit about the mrsm holiday debarcal was the fact that inorder to promote neilson....for future free holidays i guess, was the filming of a sick child inorder to keep up the quota of advertisments.....when does a "business" become so important....a baby left in kids club so you can film what a "great time" you're having. a primary aged child who has dificulty in school pulled out yet again to perform in an advertisement...where do you draw the line. step back, if only!

Hi @feesh, I think most of us have already figured out now that ASA has no real powers. I suppose the surprise to me after complaining about a dodgy ad was how utterly useless their process was in terms of investigating my complaint. Although I knew they couldn't really do anything other than give the influencer a rap on the knuckles, I still expected them to actually be professional about the way that they investigated whether my concern was of substance or not, which they clearly didn't. Even though they didn't investigate properly, it had some effect because the influencer has changed what they do and perhaps that will filter from them to other influencers, so the end result was ok for me. I've seen enough chatter on social media to know that influencers don't want to be reported to ASA, even though they are probably very aware that there are no real sanctions other than the embarrassment factor.

Also, I think it is absolutely right that the advertising industry is self governed and self funded. It would be even more of a joke if I was paying for it through my taxes. It is in the advertising industry's own best interests to have a good reputation so the industry itself needs to decide how it should best regulate and control influencers before consumers lose all goodwill towards this form of advertising. Ultimately as well, any sanctions will come indirectly from brands spending their dollar elsewhere, which they are likely to do if they are associated with a complaint via a shady influencer. What brand wants to spend time responding to an ASA complaint about a non disclosed ad run by one of their influencers? They will just go with safer options in future.

I don't think it's fair to say the ASA has no power. It's pretty good at regulating other mediums (ask Irn Bru, they've had enough ads banned by them!). They just seem very behind in how they control social media advertising.

I found this online:

"Last year, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) introduced the Poster Pre-Vetting Procedure. This means that if
the ASA upholds a complaint against a poster ad on the grounds of taste, decency or social responsibility, the advertiser must pre-vet poster for the next two years."

I know our main issue is influencers declaring an advertisement AT ALL (before we even get stuck into taste, decency etc. (Hello teepee adverts!)) but similar to the above, maybe if an influencer continues to be reported to the ASA, they could be put on some kind of posting ban or review system (by Instagram) for their future posts. They would certainly take notice then. This would help weed out a lot of the shady ex reality stars and their slimming pills etc too.

Or maybe the ASA should be forgotten about for social media all together and there should be a whole new regulator that encompasses all social media posts, regardless of country of origin. Something the big hitters like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al would need to run. For them, surely the draw is that they're losing potential revenue by posters using their platforms to advertise free of charge anyway. So they could both regulate and generate more income by enforcing something.

I agree with the need for a global regulator because the current system is out of date. The FTC regulations seem very similar to ASA and there is a heap of guidance online written from a FTC perspective if influencers bother to look for it. A global approach should be the way forward, funded by the social media platforms themselves. Great thinking Spongebob.

Genuine question; is MP image today a p* take of NB sitting on the step waiting for mumsnet debacle?

You have the ideal platform to ask MP herself....she will answer anything today. Avoids bitching and speculation on here.

Cant see that as being bitchy myself. I wondered if it was a cultural reference/film etc that I am not aware of.

It's very similar @BeansandSausages! It might be a take on the Notting Hill "just a girl standing in front of a boy" line. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Is NB still on that step? She'll have a sore bottom by now. I sat on my back door step for 30 minutes the other day and it was far from comfortable. I'll need some kind of cushion, yet I thought my arse had enough of that.

Is NB still sat on the step... waiting??!

At least it's fine weather now. She'll get a sun tan.