AJ Feuerman

Publicist | Social Media Strategist | Brunch Fanatic

10 Things About Me – Business Bits

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If you enjoy this, I challenge you to do your own “10 Things About Me,” too! What are your “10 Things” — the bits and pieces that connect the dots for your contacts?

I was inspired to do this by my long-time friends and colleagues, Chris and Tara, who noted their contacts were fragmented and had known of them in only bits and pieces. I learned quite a bit about them when they posted their lists and hope you’ll learn something new about me.

And, as Chris says, if we don’t toot our own horns, no one will! Go one and BE YOUR OWN BEST PUBLICIST (something I always say).

10 Things About Me

  1. I got my first job at 15, personalizing gifts with puffy paints and markers. I also worked at a dry cleaners not long after.
  2. I attended the Univeristy of Arizona but transferred to NYU to attend Film School and major in Screenwriting.
  3. My M.A. Thesis at USC in 2008 was entitled “How Social Media Will Revolutionize Entertainment.”
  4. I started working with social media in 2006 when I convinced my first entertainment industry employer to get on MySpace.
  5. I was among the first 1000 users to join TWTTR in 2006.
  6. I was an Events Coordinator for my Congressional District in 2008 to help elect a Senator named Barack Obama President.
  7. I speak Hebrew, a little Spanish and really want to learn ASL someday.
  8. I have handled PR for a lot of non-entertainment clients, including a pilot, a vegan chef, and start-ups in tech and fashion.
  9. I love to volunteer and spent eight years on the Board of Social Media Club LA and five with B’nai B’rith Youth.
  10. I started my own agency in January 2018 and have since worked with press in more than 40 countries.

 

Welcome to “WFH” — Some Work From Home Tips

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If you are new to the work-from-home force, I wanted to share some tips that have worked well for me over the last couple years, venturing into it out of the in-house workforce. Just checking in to wish everyone well. HANG IN THERE, guys!

Here you go and please share:

Work From Home Tips

Additionally, I recommend these chat/interactivity apps so while you are adapting to the work-from-home life, you can still feel connected to a myriad of communities, friends, etc.

  • Discord: A very modern voice & text chat app. It was originally intended for gamers but has since caught on with a wider audience. You will find it has crystal clear voice, multiple server and channel support, desktop apps, mobile apps, and more.
  • Slack: A rather elaborate instant messaging platform that I’ve seen used mostly in large companies but often times functions well as a team/project management tool. It also has desktop and mobile apps.
  • Facebook Messenger: A lot of people don’t realize you don’t have to be on Facebook to use their messaging tool. So here you go. Would also highly recommend Facebook Groups!
  • What’s App: A freeware, cross-platform messaging and Voice-over-IP service that is actually owned by Facebook. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.

Those are my top picks but this article includes quite a few more!

Again, HANG IN THERE. We are all in this together. Literally! We are! Worldwide, even! This is an unprecedented time and we will learn as we go, right? Let’s all be grateful social media and technology have advanced to this point and while we all may be silo’d, we thankfully have these tools to keep us connected. Disney+, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, it’s your move. Roll out that content.

I’m sure everyone is touting it but dear god, WASH YOUR HANDS and STAY HOME.

Blogs I Enjoyed in 2019

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Yes, I am still reading blogs.

As the “old” saying goes, “Long live the blog, RIP blogs!” which I suppose is true. It’s been more than a year since I posted anything in the blog that gave me any recognition and far more than a decade since I started blogging in the first place. And I’ve certainly given up on blog conferences – an event space I used to fervently follow.

But as a “regular person,” I still very much enjoy reading blogs kept lovingly by both friends and strangers — I still check my Feedly a few times a week! These blogs provide news, entertainment, recipes, book recommendations… They make me smile a lot. It’s still a great little escape. So if anyone else wants to carve out the time, here are ten blogs I enjoyed in 2019:

Blogs I Enjoyed in 2019

Greeblehaus: I’ve “known” Aimee for many years, though we’ve never met in person. But I can still tell you she is a talented concert photographer and her recent Hanson concert photos are my favorite thing she’s ever posted. (Ever the FANSON am I!) buy dnp

Jessica Gottlieb: No frills, no sponsored posts, no theme. Just her thoughts and feelings. Jessica doesn’t post too often, but when she does, it packs a punch. She is a deeply talented writer and worth following.

A Beautiful Mess: They are mostly focused on interior design and there’s definitely a lot of mom-things, but I still enjoy it! They have such a lovely aesthetic. Great taste. My favorite is their weekly “10 Things I Love on Sunday” series.

Blogs I Enjoyed in 2019

Life as a Rambling Redhead: I found this blog a little backwards. I started following Jennifer on Instagram first (at the urging of a friend), the blog came later. But she’s a rockstar at shopping recommendations and gift ideas. She has a gorgeous home and an adorable family. She is entirely delightful.

More Than Thursdays: Lizz and I have a love of Harry Potter and Star Wars in common and those two things pop up often on her blog, so it’s quite enjoyable for me. She also posts great crafts and recipes. I am also a big fan of her “side hustle,” PewPew Lasercaft!

Not Entirely Perfect: Stephanie has been blogging about her life, her home, finances, goal-setting and more for a long time and she’s consistently good. She’s also got a weekly series I enjoy, “Three on Thursdays.”

Blogs I Enjoyed in 2019

Organized Island: I’ve known Raquel for ages and ages from back when I was more invested, traditional blogger and she’s such a lovely human being. The recipes she posts are often fairly simple and make me believe I could actually try them and succeed.

The Bloggess: If you have never read about Beyonce, the big metal chicken, just do it right now. I’ll wait. Jenny has since published two best-selling books and is currently opening her own bookstore but she still blogs often and is still terrific.

The Sparkly Life: Alyssa also posts a weekly list – hers is called “20 Cool Things You Need to Click” and most of the time, I click on all of them. I met her back at my very first blogging conference and was impressed that she held down a popular blog in tangent with her busy magazine editing career.

We Are Not Martha: I used to work with this blogger years ago, which is how I discovered it, but am still a loyal reader. She posts recipes mostly, which always look incredible despite the claim she is “not Martha”, and once a month, I get a bunch of great book recommendations from here.

And that’s it! In truth, when it comes to the “blogs I enjoyed in 2019” this is an incredibly small sampling of the total amount of blogs I check in on every week. My habit is a little vast. And I suspect I will always uncover more outlets to add to my habit. I love a good niche!

Do you still read blogs? Got one I should check out?

 

Coffee Shop Etiquette

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Let us now learn some important coffee shop etiquette.I was recently inspired by a friend’s Facebook post from her local coffee shop: “If you are in a public place having a full on conversation on speaker phone…you are an ass.” Too far, people. Too far. As a freelancer, I do half my work in coffee shops and it’s made me acutely aware of some really poor – dare I say trashy – behavior in these public places. And I am here to help. Not that I should have to but I guess we’re not all blessed with the same levels of common sense?

YOU DO NOT LIVE HERE 

If we are Facebook friends, you may recall this experience:

Never mind that he was on a loud phone call — I will bring that up later. And never mind that his hardware was busted. This was not the last time I saw a desktop setup in a Starbucks. And It just looks ridiculous. At least he had the decency to do it at a small table but I’ve certainly seen it where the customer takes over a four-top to spread out their computer and what-have-yous. It’s just in such poor taste, people. If you don’t have a place for that at home, why do you own it?

In a discussion about this, someone suggested to me once it may be a homeless person who only had the desktop to their name and transports it to coffee shops to look for work. Well…. maybe? I suppose I can’t argue with that. I wouldn’t tell them to sell it if they’re using it to look for work or a place to live. I could actually understand a need to cling to it.

BARE FEET

Don’t do that, people. Not in a Starbucks, not in a Coffee Bean, not in any public place (see also: airplanes). Some people would argue that “my feet don’t smell,” and that it actually has health benefits to go barefoot. Okay, then stay home and take your shoes off. Close your office door and take your shoes off. But I think when I go to get a coffee and spend a couple hours doing whatever, I get to assume your feet are stanky and I don’t want them near anything I am drinking or eating. It’s gross. It’s just gross.

SOUND BARRIERS 

YOU ARE NOT IN YOUR OFFICE, YOU ARE AT STARBUCKS, STOP SHOUTING. If you’re going to have a loud phone conversation in a public place, you better be ready for me to chime in. Because I will (see that Facebook post up there for proof). Even worse? VIDEO CALLS. Why are you doing that here? It’s bad enough I hear you, now I have to hear TWO of you? NO.

Also, are you watching videos or listening to music? Why aren’t you using headphones?! COME ON.

SHARING SPACE

Let’s be courteous here, people. If you are a party of one, you do not need to hog a big table for four. And if you sit at one of those, I hope you are prepared to share your space with another individual. That’s the coffee shop common courtesy law. Also? Don’t hog the outlets. If you’re at 100%, let someone else plug in for a bit, would you?

coffee shop etiquette

What did I miss? For example, how do you feel about people who “camp” at the coffee shop – that set up and stay for hours and hours? People who only buy one little thing? Is tipping required? Do tell in the comments, please.

Everyone is a Baller With JetSuiteX

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Just last week, I threw up an Instagram post as I boarded a semi-private flight to Las Vegas aboard JetSuiteX and the responses were plentiful. As such, I figured I thought I should jump in here and explain exactly what it is and why it’s not the high-end, pricey choice everyone assumes it is. You too can be a baller here and fly private! It’s pretty glorious.

Everyone is a Baller With JetSuiteX

To immediately put it in perspective, my round trip flight to Vegas (from Burbank Airport) was $158. Total. When I flew to Vegas back in April, I think that round trip was about $170. I did shop around and even the go-to, Southwest, was more expensive. What’s more, the ease of flying out of Burbank Airport, as opposed to LAX, is extraordinarily valuable and worth a few more bucks to me, if it came down to that. Additionally, with JSX, you can show up 20-30 minutes prior to your flight, check in easily, drop your bags at the curb (for lack of a better description), sans TSA hassles, and you’re off. There are snacks, free booze (beer, wine, hard alcohol), non-alcoholic beverages, of course, and lovely lounges at their private terminals.

Other amenities include:

  • Comfortable leather seats
  • Business class legroom
  • Power outlets at every seat
  • Full flight attendant service
  • No overhead storage bins for a more spacious cabin
  • Hanging rack for your hanging wardrobe luggage

Everyone is a Baller With JetSuiteX

It’s funny, too, because I a not a great flier. I usually require a healthy dose of Xanax, a pre-flight soothing call with mom, and some hand-holding, but I find with JSX, I am just so much less stressed. I know the prospect of flying a smaller plane would seem scarier, but it is very smooth and just doesn’t phase me. They make the whole experience so easy. And you’re only conceivably on the plane for an hour (right now they only fly between Burbank, Vegas, Oakland, Concord and Orange County) so no biggie, right?

I’m sure you can all see why I love using it so much and here’s one more incentive. Every time you refer someone, you get a $20 credit on your account. And if you use MY referral link, you get $20 off your first booking. So that $170 or $150, whatever the airfare is, is already $20 less! (If it’s easier, you can also visit their homepage and use my code, 8YOUU5, to get the $20 discount.)

BON VOYAGE! If you take a trip using JetSuiteX, I hope you’ll come back and tell me what you think!

 

Girl Crushing

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MANcrush Mondays? NOPE. Ladies – and gentlemen – there is a big, big universe of powerful females out there. Be it celebs, entrepreneurs, bloggers, “regular” people… I am girl crushing on so many so hard these days and would like to recommend following the following:

SOPHIA AMORUSO, GIRLBOSS RADIO

On each episode of the Girlboss Radio, Sophia interviews boundary-pushing women who’ve made their mark—eschewing polite conversation and extracting solid advice from the lessons they’ve learned along the way. The co-hosts are hilarious, vulnerable, and honest. Listen here. Visit the show’s page on the web here.

LAURA BENANTI, TONY AWARD WINNING ACTRESS

I love following Laura on Twitter and Instagram. Massive girl crush. She’s so smart and funny and honest. Her small captures of her experiences as a new mom are relatable – even to a non mom like me. Sometimes it’s comforting to remember that the glamorous and famous people we worship are still real human beings, too. If you are not familiar with her work on Broadway, you might recognize her as the Melania Trump stand-in on Colbert or from numerous TV shows she’s starred in. One of my favorite appearances of hers was this bit from the 2013 Tony Awards featuring a bevy or stage performers lamenting over their canceled TV efforts:

Follow Laura on Twitter here and on Instagram here.

HANNAH KEYSER, JOURNALIST

Formerly with Deadspin, now writing for Munchies, I enjoy Hannah’s acerbic wit and astute observations. I very much enjoy her articles such as “There is Something Fundamentally Wrong with Cupcakes.” (Read it, she’s not wrong.)

BARBARA CORCORAN, REAL ESTATE MOGUL AND “SHARK”

I discovered Barbara on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and came to appreciate her expertise in business – especially marketing – but more importantly, her empathy and sense of fun. She loves what she’s doing and it shines through. Barbara is a 100% self-made billionaire. She entered the workforce as a waitress. In fact, she’d had 22 jobs by the age of 23 and then, she built a $5 billion business with a $1,000 loan. She has a podcast and I love her little bits of wisdom on Twitter. BONUS: She was a guest on fellow-Shark Daymond John’s podcast and it was one of the best podcast episodes I’ve ever listened to. (And when I tweeted about it, both Barbara and Daymond retweeted me!!!)

WENDI AARONS, HUMORIST

I don’t really know what to call Wendi because she’s “a little column A, a little column B,” but everything she posts online has me in stitches, so we’re going with “humorist,” okay? She has mastered the art of making a fine point whilst making you laugh your ass off.

https://twitter.com/WendiAarons/status/1031532418359013377

You can follow her on social media but you will also find her byline on McSweeney’s, which happens to be one of my favorite outlets to read. (Do you follow “Paul Ryan Gosling” on Twitter? That’s her creation as well.)

ZOË FOSTER BLAKE, AUTHOR & SKINCARE CO. FOUNDER

Zoë Foster Blake has worked in journalism for over 15 years for little publications like Harper’s BAZAAR and Cosmopolitan. She was killing it all the way back, starting a beauty blog called fruitybeauty back in 2006 when blogging was a newb hobby, and then founding and launching a beauty site, Primped, in 2008. She has also published four novels and a children’s picture book called “No One Likes a Fart” (!!!). As if that were not enough, she launched her own skin care line in 2014 and it just invaded a Sephora near you. Follow her on Instagram.

ASHLEY GRAHAM, PLUS SIZE MODEL

I wouldn’t be so obsessed with Ashley were it not for the recommendation of a friend who followed her. She is inspirational. She is a force. She is one of the most outspoken voices gracing the cover of magazines today, encouraging women to be their most confident selves and recognize their own personal beauty. Following her on Instagram builds my own confidence. Make sure you also tune into her Stories — equally amazing and often hilarious. She has a great sense of humor.

LAUREN MODERY, HIPSTERCRITE

I have been reading Hipstercrite for years and following the author, Lauren, for almost as long. We agree that Jeff Goldblum is a stud and she has written for a myriad of websites you probably read frequently. She successfully bridges the gap between blogging about her personal life and blogging about pop culture. She’s lived in New York, Los Angeles and now Austin which I think shines through in her writing style. She is just very enjoyable. Highly recommend.

EMMELIE DE LA CRUZ, REV15

Marketing guru Emmelie De La Cruz regularly posts Instagram GOLD, including social media tips and tricks, website how-tos, and the best books she’s read recently. As if that’s not enough, her style is something fierce. She is opinionated and informed. I love when she nails an argument. Follow her on Instagram.

# # #

When I started this post, I’d planned to give you five names but it just kept going. And it could go longer but stay tuned for a second chapter someday soon….

Making Facebook Private

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Facebook Privacy! Believe it! They actually provide it

Oh Facebook privacy, you saucy, evasive minx. I understand why everyone is super upset with Facebook; no one wants their private information shared with strangers. I get it. And clearly Facebook is not winning at this game — there are flaws in their system and, if you ask this publicist, their CEO’s response to the crisis.

But I feel the need to remind everybody that Facebook actually provides rather comprehensive privacy settings. The problem is, they can be a little hard to find if you don’t know where they live and frankly, consumers are lazy, so they don’t bother.

Using Facebook Privacy Settings

So here’s this average person’s short list of tips. I highly recommend getting to know these tools so when moments like this make headlines, you don’t feel this mass panic and also so I don’t have to see posts like “OMG I AM SOOOOOOO LEAVING FACEBOOK.”

App Permissions

This is the biggie, right? On a desktop, go to the little dropdown arrow in the upper-right corner, and click on Settings. This is a magical land where many things happen. In the settings area, in the lefthand column, you want to select Apps, and now you’ve unlocked all the goodies. Definitely look for the box on the bottom left that says “Apps Others Use.” That’s where you probably rushed through setting up an account somewhere and gave Facebook and/or a third-party permission to dig through your private things.

Using Facebook Privacy Settings

And let’s go back to that third party issue. Guys, when you sign up for a game or use Facebook to login to a shopping site or anything at all, you always get a pop-up asking for you to consent. You CAN edit your permissions. Look for it and use it.

Using Facebook Privacy Settings

For example, when a vendor asks if they have the right to get my and my friends‘ information? I ALWAYS uncheck that. Because NO, YOU CANNOT.

Your Profile and status

If you head back into that settings area, you can also adjust how easily you can be found on Facebook. You can adjust your login security, who can tag you, if you have to approve it — seriously, there is a wealth of wonders in here. But let’s talk about your everyday posting; your Facebook status.

If you take advantage of Facebook lists…..

Using Facebook Privacy Settings

…. You can consequently customize who sees your posts! It’s TRUE!

Using Facebook Privacy Settings

I have a good amount of lists. There are some posts I don’t need my co-workers to see! Same goes for my family, my high school friends, people under 21, etc. But if I’m just posting a puppy video? That’s public because everyone needs PUPPIES.

I hope this post opened a whole new world of Facebook privacy to you. If you have any questions, you can drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to help!

Mild Manners. Have Some.

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On the virtue of saying “thank you” and having gratitude

Mild Manners. Have Some.

Yes, simple, mild manners. Have some. I was at an outdoor movie screening the other night and it was delightful. They are always so much fun — it’s one of my favorite Summer activities and here in Los Angeles, that means we can have them into Fall when it’s still hot as balls outside. In this particular instance, the screening ended on a fine lesson in manners and basic gratitude.

I was parked in a lot with three driveways — one to enter through, one to exit by, and one roped off with a thick chain so as to control the flow of traffic. And it’s hardly necessary as this lot is not very big and people always tend to be civilized. It’s a quieter side of town and a good group comes out for these things. Anyway, I was putting my things in the car when I heard a loud bang.

A driver who was not at full attention had ploughed right into the chain across the center driveway. What’s worse, he couldn’t seem to grasp what was going on so he was reversing his car and re-attempting to get out of the lot that way. And the car behind him was honking. So now there’s an audience — everyone packing up their cars is watching this unfold.

But for whatever reason, I just dropped what I was doing and in my Uggs, booked it over there and shouted “STOP!” I went around to the front of the car where the chain had entangled around this guy’s license plate and through his grill. It was heavy and filthy but I was able to dislodge it pretty easily, and toss the chain aside. And he tapped his gas! He was ready to just run me down. So I jumped to the side and slapped my hand on the passenger-side window.

She rolled it down a crack and I said politely, “make sure you stop and look at your car, you’ve got some damage there.”

Window went right back up, they drove off. The end. (Well, not the total end. I rolled my eyes, walked back to my car, and commented to a nearby friend that he’d said nothing to me before rushing out of the lot.)

Look, I’m not a hero here. I wasn’t looking for a trophy or a round of applause. I’m not even writing this blog post to seek validation. I have zero regrets and know I did a good thing. But I must confess I found it rather appalling that the driver nor his passenger said “thank you.” Just THANK YOU. I mean, I sneeze, you say “bless you,” I say “thank you.” The words should be a reflex, people.

It just made me wonder, parents are still teaching these things right? These are the basics to me. You say “please,” “thank you,” “you’re welcome,” and when someone asks how you’re doing, you return the kindness by asking them the same.

It didn’t ruin my night by any means. It just gave me pause and a desire to step up on my soapbox and just remind you all: HAVE SOME MANNERS! 

Thank you and you’re welcome.

The Best News Newsletters

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Eight Subscriptions You Won’t Hate

In our current political climate, I find myself in a new and precarious position — news junkie. Despite it’s rumored decline and failings, I still rely on Twitter for a lot of my news updates as well as a few well-informed friends on Facebook who win me over with biting commentary. But if I’m not careful, I’ll end up travelling down a deep, deep rabbit hole of articles and videos which, I have learned the hard way, is really not healthy. So I’ve converted to a new addiction: newsletter subscriptions. I check my email first thing in the morning, every day without fail, so these have become my go-to sources of information as I start the day off. What’s more, some of them are written rather delicately so that the news is more palatable than if you, for example, had to digest it from Fox or MSNBC. So now, permit me to share the best news newsletters.

The Best News Newsletters

NEXT DRAFT

Written by Dave Pell, who is himself a news junkie, Next Draft is curated by him personally from 50 different news sites he trolls. He selects the ten most fascinating stories and sends them to your inbox with concise, pithy observations that will “make your computer device vibrate with delight.” SUBSCRIBE HERE.

theSKIMM

The Skimm “makes it easier to be smarter.” It was started by two gals (girl power!) in their 20s, working at NBC in breaking news, political news, and documentaries. News was a clear mutual passion of theirs and once they clicked, it did not take long for theSkimm to luanch into the ether right off their living room couch. The Daily Skimm breaks down in easy-to-understand verbiage everything you need to know to start your day. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

P.S. (If you are already familiar with theSKIMM, you may have recognized that I totally ripped off my color scheme from them!)

THELI.ST

How’s this for an opener? “We believe that there is a lot of money to be made from taking women seriously and that a rising tide lifts all boats.” SO IN, right? TheLi.st is committed to diversity and inclusion and animated by a mission of #ChangeTheRatio: Increasing visibility, access and opportunity for women and other underrepresented constituencies, across every field that needs it. It is  more than news; it is a network and visibility platform for professional women from all industries who are ambitious, accomplished and committed to helping each other rise. “Listers” land investors, partnerships, earned media, speaking opportunities, great jobs, great hires, great advice and beyond. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

#WTFJHT

As in, “What the fuck just happened today?” Curated by journalist Matt Kiser, he actually cites theSKIMM as one of the newsers that inspired him to create the site. It’s dedicated to all news coming out of the White House and Kiser does his best to take a “neutral-ish position” on all things. Sometimes he is more successful than others but I appreciate that he not only breaks down the news, he does it in a way that explains it to less savvy consumers like me and tells you why you should care about it. It is digestable and my essential guide to the daily shock and awe of our nation’s politics. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

CHEAT SHEET

The Daily Beast claims their “cheat sheet” is a “speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don’t).” That is mostly true. They are, in this liberal’s opinion, a liberally biased outlet — but that is okay with me. You’ll get ten headlines daily, mostly politically focused, but I often see tech and entertainment mixed in and their paragraph-length summaries of each item makes it nice and easy to read through. SUBSCRIBE HERE (make sure you check the right box — they offer a lot of newsletters).

THE DAILY EYE OPENER

As Charlie Rose says every morning on CBS This Morning, “your world in 90 seconds.” Everyone has their morning news show of choice and mine is CBS This Morning. And right after they welcome you to the broadcast, they launch into this minute-and-a-half long video montage of the top news from the previous 24 hours, set to some music and peppered with commentary from the late night hosts so that you can chuckle to yourself while running through it. But if you don’t watch the show, or if you happen to still be in the shower when it airs, you can subscribe to it as well. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

NEED 2 KNOW

If you’re still jonesing for more easy-to-swallow news content, Need 2 Know sends out a daily email with news stories you ‘need 2 know’, from politics and business to sports and entertainment. It’s short and sweet with a little humor blended in. If the news is “hard boiled,” these folks are serving it up “over easy.” Fun fact about these guys also — one of the co-founders is an Emmy Award winning TV journalist, the other still works for Steve Madden shoes. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

INSIDE

Inside is a little different as it is not a singular newsletter — it is a network of newsletters focused on an array of topics and they are always accepting newsletter theme ideas. They pride themselves on intimacy so you can even hit reply to any of their newsletters and you’ll find a real person is on the receiving end and may actually get back to you. They have an app as well wherein you can customize your feed with whatever news you like to see and, similarly to Reddit, you can thumbs up or thumbs down stories to let the Editors know if it was helpful to you and enable them to more finely curate your content. Confession: I found out about Inside when Mark Cuban did an interview where admitted he only has 13 apps on his phone and Inside is one of them. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

BONUS PROTIP

FEEDLY

Well, if you’re anything like me, in addition to being a chronic news-reader, you also enjoy a fair amount of blogs about a myriad of topics. But we simply can’t subscribe to everything, can we? (Well, maybe you can. I cannot.) Feedly is an aggregation tool that can be plugged into most web browsers or downloaded to your mobile device to compile news feeds from a variety of online sources. So in one place, I can scroll through the headlines from a ton of websites and click on what I want to read, skip what I don’t want to read, and even mark some items for later. It’s very easy to use and I’ve even got my sources categorized with themes like “food,” “fashion” and “friends.” START USING IT HERE.

“Disclaimer” vs. “Disclosure”

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Know the difference

Disclaimer vs. disclosure is actually not that tricky once you get the hang of it. The FTC enforces several consumer protection laws, rules and regulations, particularly when it comes to bloggers and influencers online. In this space, we are often compensated with either free goods and/or services, and/or with money to review, summarize, endorse or promote. Additionally, publishers often utilize affiliate links so that if you, as the consumer, clicks on said link and buys something, that publisher earns a tiny commission. Either way, no matter how you are being rewarded for your content, if you are in fact being rewarded, you must tell your audience so that they understand exactly what they are paying for — literally and metaphorically. These activities benefit consumers as well as sellers, who expect and deserve the opportunity to compete in a marketplace free of deception and unfair practices.

So make no mistake, the FTC is requiring you to DISCLOSE. They are requiring a DISCLOSURE.

Not, as some may say too quickly, a DISCLAIMER. 

A disclosure provides a reader all necessary and relevant information regarding a purchase or promotion so they can make a well-informed decision. It’s “the fine print.” (And for all you publishers out there — because you might be wondering — keep this in mind: Disclosures that aren’t made until the end of your post when you’ve inserted affiliate or sponsored links in the content that comes before the disclosure may be construed as misleading.) The FTC requires “clear and conspicuous” disclosures.

What is a “disclaimer,” then?

A disclaimer is a statement to limit your liability; that denies something, especially responsibility. It’s your “holds harmless” blanket statement. In this space, it may include something such as a blog’s privacy policy or giveaway “terms & conditions” (Ts & Cs), rules and procedures. It will, hopefully, and if done correctly, prevent you from legal complications. For example, I’ll give you one right now….

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney, I do not have a degree or expertise in law. I am providing the aforementioned and forthcoming information based on career experience and online research.

I’ve seen a few disclaimers that even make me laugh. And I think that’s fine so long as it comes across that you are accountable for your accuracy, reliability and trustworthiness in the space. This website even has one — albeit a lazy one — I concocted on my own.

Disclaimer vs. Disclosure

So, what’s the point?

I bring all this up because several times a week, whilst I read the many, many blogs of which I am a fan, I see these two words interchanged as if they are synonyms and I’m sorry, but that is just not the case. When you are giving away that $25 gift card to Olive Garden in exchange for a free meal for the whole fam, you’d better be disclosing that you enjoyed that comped meal. If you are, in turn, sending all the email addresses you collect in that giveaway back to Olive Garden for them to utilize in their marketing efforts moving forward, your website better have a disclaimer somewhere stating that you engage in that business practice.

QUESTIONS?  Feel free to ask in the comments. I’ll try to help but again, I am not a lawyer. I do highly recommend the intelligent attorneys at Hashtag Legal, the Law Office of Jamie Lieberman and Danielle Liss, who offer legal services for small businesses, social media professionals, & creatives. A very smart business to be in these days. And in addition, have at these resources below.

Disclaimer vs. Disclosure References

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AJ@AJFEUERMAN.COM