What I was also interested to find is no other disclosure policies on that front page of Google. I have a disclosure policy and feel it’s necessary to have honest conversations with my readers. It’s not necessary to say things as robotic as “I received this product in exchange for it’s promotion” but I am always honest when I receive a product as a gift; or if a post is sponsored it is marked as such.

While it’s not a legal requirement in this country I think it’s important to disclose in order to establish integrity. I try hard not to accept sponsorship or gifts that don’t pertain to the interests of my blog in order to maintain a connection with my readers.

It’s such a little thing but I think some bloggers feel they’re entitled to receive sponsorship or product compensation and don’t feel the necessity to disclose, as Helen suggested in a prior comment. No Helen, you don’t have to. But you should feel crummy that you don’t because you’re being deceptive by omission and that’s cheating your readers who rely on your honesty.

We don’t believe politicians who say they weren’t influenced by “kickbacks”, why should bloggers be any different? Anyone who doesn’t provide up front disclosure – where potentially relevant to the topic being discussed – risks others later assuming the worst about their intentions.

Someone once said: “we judge ourselves by our intentions…others judge us by our actions.”

Personally I think holding bloggers to a higher standard than the mainstream media channels is a good thing. One reason for established media’s eroded credibility is because of the thinly veiled advertorials and barely rewritten press releases masquerading as news.