The explosion of social media has revealed the power of social media marketing. This includes customer reviews on sites such as Amazon.com or individual blogs, video reviews on YouTube, buzz spread through Twitter, and individual posts and other product-related links on Facebook or MySpace. While product manufacturers are racing to take advantage of social media marketing, their lawyers need to keep an eye on new litigation risks, especially now that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned that limits on deceptive advertising apply equally in cyberspace.
Social media marketing enables product manufacturers to tap into and even shape the most effective form of marketing: word-of-mouth reviews of product users. An entire viral marketing industry has emerged to help product manufacturers market their products on the web. In this new-media blitz, consumers or bloggers often receive free products to help facilitate online reviews, and some companies have enlisted celebrity support.
