Yesterday, I wrote a post about the FTC Disclosure Guidelines for bloggers. In a comment, someone asked me about ghost blogging. What does the FTC think about it? Is it ethical? I wasn’t sure, so I looked into it and the answer is: jury’s still out.

The FTC does not include ghost blogging in its guidelines, so the question of whether its practice is ethical is currently a personal one. I found a couple posts discussing the issue with opinions laid out.

In his post “Is Ghostblogging Ethical?” Todd Defren says he has no problem with it for a corporate blog. He says that the demands on a corporate blog are such that there almost needs to be multiple authors to get all the benefits out of its existence. His stance is this:

Ghostblogging for a corporate-aligned but PERSONAL blog (like this one) is not ethical.

However, ghostblogging for a CORPORATE blog is no more unethical than drafting a piece for the company newsletter, especially since the final draft would need to be approved by a client representative.

Dave Fleet’s post “Why Ghost Blogging is Wrong” talks about the trust and authenticity that is lost when the discovery of an undisclosed writer is made. He goes on to offer alternatives to ghost blogging, and features the results from a poll revealing that only 19 percent of voters believe the practice is ethical.

Take these arguments, research your own, and then make a decision yourself. Until the FTC takes an official stance on the subject, it’s up to you to decide.

So, what do you think? Is ghost blogging ethical?

Photo by davecobb