Heated Debate - Affiliate Link Disclosure in Social Media

[Linda Buquet]

Are Affiliate Links Unethical Without Disclosure?

Social media is about trust and building relationships. Some bloggers feel in order to be 'trustworthy' they should disclose when they are using affiliate links. I say it's just silly to put (aff) or some other disclosure after affiliate links. If you are using affiliate links tastefully and sparingly in your blog posts or Twitter and only recommending appropriate products your readers may find interesting or useful, then you should not have to disclose every time you drop a link.

Lisa Barone, one of the outspoken women at OutspokenMedia agrees!
A heated debate follows in the blog comments over there.

Are Affiliate Links Unethical Without Disclosure?

"My thoughts? If you don’t trust me, then you can unfollow me and unsubscribe right now. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

If you don’t trust me not to throw BS in your face, then what are we doing? I don’t want you clicking on my link. Whether it’s clean or affiliate, it doesn’t matter. I value real relationships and if you’re questioning my intentions then we’ve already failed as a couple. Stop wasting your time on me and go find someone you do trust. Because that’s the point of this whole “social” thing."

There are 105 comments over at the OutspokenMedia blog, which proves this is still a hot topic with lots of conflicting opinions.

WHAT DO YOU THINK???

[minstrel]

Lisa Barone, one of the outspoken women at OutspokenMedia agrees!

So do I.

[rant]

Frankly, I think people have taken this whole disclosure and nofollow thing way to seriously - egged on by Google and in fear of the dreaded "Google giveth and Google taketh away" penalty.

As just one example, on my sites I recommend specific self-help books that I have found useful and my clients generally find helpful. Every one of those books is linked to Amazon.com and each one of those links includes my affiliate tag.

That benefits me (actually not a whole lot in reality but a little) if somebody buys that within the time frame to apply the affiliate fee to me. But it also benefits my clients because out of all the books available on the market they have some assurance that I am recommending that (or those) specific one(s). Nobody is compelled to buy the book and even if they do they're not compelled to buy it from Amazon.com. And nothing is hidden: anyone hovering over the link will see the affiliate tag included in the URL.

What do I have to do to be politically and Googley correct today? Put up a blinking marquee next to each link saying "Warning! Alert! Affiliate tag inside!!"?

[/rant]

[maltech]

I do not think it is needed. If you are giving good valuable content, that the end user can appreciate, when you are referencing a site, if there is a chance for you to make a buck, you should use the affiliate link.

I do not think you should paste 500 links in an article, but 1-4 links inside the article and one "please visit this articles sponsor" at the end link I feel is quite okay.