Open letter to Thai social media influencers: stop hiding your conflicts of interest

Dear Thai social media mavens, we need to talk.

I have been watching this industry for as long as I can remember and there’s something that need to be changed: please disclose your conflicts of interest.

What do I mean? Who am I to just come into this industry as a newbie and criticize the seniority?

But please listen up.

Back when I was in the US working at a digital agency, whenever we talk about our client in our private channels, it’s our policy to disclose the relationship. If I attend my own company’s event, I used the #employee hashtag. For bloggers that worked with us (whether they get paid in cash or are just getting a smartphone to review), they’ll always have to disclose. On Twitter, the hashtag can be #client, #spon, #sponsor. The list goes on.

At the same time, on blogs, there’s always a disclosure line that the specific influencer is working with a brand. Of course, you may argue that people in the US have always done so because it’s required by the Federal Trade Commission.

Situation in Thailand

I want to focus on the IT industry specifically as consumers normally go online to do some research and read reviews before they make purchases. Many Twitter influencers use pseudonyms and don’t reveal their positions in the industry, which means followers can’t discern their motivations.

For years, I’ve seen how people just shamelessly praise the brands they get paid to talk about. Now it’s not even only product reviews anymore. I am told by people in the know that some influencers talk about startups, apps, websites, and recommend it to their followers. Yes, they have the right to do it, I have to admit. But they are exploiting their network wrongly.

I agree, there’s no law that says influencers must disclose any relationships when they talk about brands. So I rarely see anyone do it. I really mean rarely.

What I normally see is someone who I’m well aware is an influencer tweet about a phone he or she was paid to talk about without any disclosure. He genuinely likes the product, of course.

But for unwitting consumers, is that fair?

Best practices

I’m not trying to be a prude and tell you what to do. I was in marketing before and back then I’d argue that not disclosing is better as it gives the impression of credibility. But does it really?

Seriously, the situation is getting worse. It gets to the point where I actually have to question every single Tweet, Facebook post, and blog article. I don’t know if I can trust that person or not.