Think twice before claiming “things” on Social Networking sites

Come March 1^st, 2011, the Advertising and Standards Authority of UK shall have a bigger role to play. The ASA’s digital remit has been extended as far as it relates to public relations.

All advertising and promotional claims on the internet, including social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, are to come under the same regulations as the press and television. This seems to be a welcome extension of the powers of the ASA.

So think twice before you claim things on social networking sites or advertise your products or services in any one of them.

ASA’s new powers will be funded by a 0.1 per cent levy on paid-for advertisements appearing on internet search engines. It said that Google, the leading search engine, would be providing “seed capital” to initially finance the ASA.

There shall be a quarterly review of the extended digital remit by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), Advertising and Standards Authority ASA) and the Advertising Standards Boards of Finance (ASBOF) to ensure that the UK’s advertising self-regulatory system continues to work in the best interest of consumers and the marketing community in the online and offline world.