I think the FTC has better things to do than try to monitor the tens of millions of bloggers out there. Yes, I said tens of millions- aren't my Facebook, Myspace and Twitter accounts technically capable of blogging? Even if blogging is narrowed down and defined, the rules can be stretched and broken. Has the FTC ever considered that product review is actually a JOB? Honestly, I feel bad for reviewers- a redeem code isn't enough payment. Bloggers can and do have influence- I mean thats the whole purpose of a product review isn't it? However, they don't drive sales nor do they generate sales out of thin air. You would think that the FTC would know how advertising works. When I'm looking for a movie to watch, I'll read a couple reviews. In this scenario, I was already prepared to go to a movie. Game sales are basically the same way. People are ready to buy a game, so they'll browse a few sites or the App Store. The blog didn't create the sale, it just made the buyer aware of the product.
oh i forgot to say the FTC rules intend to cover facebook (fan pages!) and even twitter! LOL. Plus it doesn't matter whether you give good or bad reviews of the product. I read an interview where this guy from FTC said there's a way of making disclosure in 140 characters or less! On twitter?!? Right now they're backtracking a bit and saying that they might focus more on the advertisers than the bloggers because they don't have the resources to police the blogs and facebook and twitter posts. Still, I don't see why they have to do this. The new rules are crazy and prominent bloggers are up in arms. I don't know how this will affect review sites and iphone devs in the long run if they were to really implement these rules.
Out of our seven reviews, only one reviewer actually knew me. Jaybot and I worked on a game together years ago, and he fully disclosed our relationship several times within his review of Flickitty. Even though I offered a code, he bought the game to review it. I thought it was pretty cool and responsible. I have never written my own review in the App Store, nor posted under the pretense that I was 'just a fan'. In fact, even my girlfriend hasn't written a review nor posted anything, even though she lurks and reads these posts on occasion. I have my favorite sites that I go to when I want to read a review for an iPhone game. Honestly, I don't read the reviews here, I think they are complete shit (sorry if any readers are a reviewer for this site, but get your shit together). For honest and well written reviews, the sites and blogs I visit are small.
OH GOOD, the admins do read the posts, lol! Even though your comment is in jest, I think it is appropriate. The news and articles on this site aren't designed for readers like me, they are targeting a different demographic. So in a way, TA does aim to please and they do a very good job in that regard. Our shortcoming is that we have found a target, we just aren't hitting it. We need to get our shit together.
I see a definite boost in sales whenever my game is reviewed or blogged about. The boost is much smaller than the sales you get when featured by Apple though so maybe thats why you don't see any effect. My app has never been featured so reviews and blogs are the next best thing. Based on its traffic, I think touchArcade has probably the largest effect of any site though I have not experienced this personally. Exposure = sales, not all blogs and websites have the same exposure. And none of them compare to being visible in the app store.
