1. Find examples of native advertising on various publishers' Web sites. Create a presentation with screen shots showing the content and how it is identified. Has the content been shared with others via social media?
2. Debate whether or not the FTC's current regulations and guidelines regarding online advertising are adequate for this type of promotion. Is it likely that the FTC will issue new guidelines or regulations?
Marketers have always advertised in traditional media such as newspapers, television, and magazines, but today they are increasingly creating content for the online platforms of these media through native advertising, also called sponsored content. This form of promotion is not new. It dates back to the late 1880s as "reading notices" that placed information about brands and companies in news stories, usually without indicating the advertiser's sponsorship. However, the sponsorship of today's native advertising is often clearly labeled. Native advertising is growing quickly, generating $3 billion annually for online content publishers. It is offered by 73 percent of online publishers and more than 40 percent of brands currently use it. For example, Forbes Brand Voice allows companies such as IBM, EY, and Century Link to create content placed both in the print magazine and on its digital publishing platform at Forbes.com. Forbes promotes the content on the Web site and in the magazine's table of contents. Readers can learn from Century Link about how big data will change travel marketing or from Samsung about how to close the gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. Other publisher sites, such as The Huffington Post, assist marketers in creating sponsored content. Its Huff Post Partner Studio provides talented writers, designers, and editors to assist business partners in creating relevant content about their brands in the familiar Huff Post voice. Fiber One tells readers "11 Diet 'Rules' You Can Absolutely Break," IBM explains how businesses can use social media, and Cottonelle tells readers the mistakes they are making in the bathroom and how to fix them. Other Internet entities are also getting in on the action. For example, Facebook reaped more than $1 billion in mobile native advertising alone in just one quarter. The rapid growth of native advertising has caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission. As a result, the FTC recently held a conference, "Blurred Lines: Advertising or Content? An FTC Workshop on Native Advertising" to discuss this growing trend of blending advertising with news and other content, leaving some to wonder if further regulations are forthcoming.