In July 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to provide new guidance that allows public companies to use their Web sites and corporate blogs to meet Regulation FD’s public disclosure requirements.
For the most part, public companies do make the effort to public information on their website in a timely fashion, however, most corporate executives don’t have direct control over the website and time is of the essence in Full Disclosure situations. Filing an FD also takes time and costs money, and thus, the method of using a blog is probably faster and easier for the executive. A corporate blog can be set-up to receive the FD or posting via email, and then published instantly to the web. This is set-up using the OTCListings.com email post function. In order to maintain the integrity of your corporate blog, we set-up your companyname.otclistings.com or company symbol.otclistings.com. This can be done for other exchanges as well, but this site is primarily for this market. We also can do this for Amexlistings.com, tsxlistings.com, etc.
The SEC last issued guidance on the use of Web sites and electronic media in 2000 — which is a century in web years.
The official statement from SEC chairman Christopher Cox said:
“The last time the SEC issued guidance in this area, the idea of ’social networks’ hadn’t yet been developed, and creating a social network where shareholders could meet and exchange views was barely imaginable,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. “Ongoing developments in technology have increased both the markets’ and investors’ demand for more timely company disclosure on the Web, and in turn, raised new securities law issues for public companies to consider. The guidance issued today clarifies the rules of the road so investors can gain — quickly and in a cost-effective manner — the benefits of Internet disclosure of the latest information on the companies they own or are considering buying.”
We expect the use of OTClistings.com as your blog portal will benefit your investors, company, and social media presence. We are excited about the leverage the SEC has given public companies and possibly they will move forward with even more advances in terms of how public corporations use social media.
Our belief is the days of stock promotion, posting junk information, and pushing out press releases via a wire service is antiquated and out of date as for as the approach needed for coverage and impact. REG FD forced these costs onto public companies, as it was a requirement. Between Vintage Filings bills and PrimeNewswire as examples, one release could cost up to $500 in fees based on the definition of coverage and disclosure. A blog at otclistings.com costs $25 a month, unlimited usage, and the company links up with your blog, twitters the blog, registers your contributions on facebook, and informs the blog feeds where to find your information. In essence, the blog gets a massive amount of online marketing. In addition to REG FD and press releases, we encourage your Investor Relation contact our CEO to write on the blog. Since the Blog is sufficient for REG FD, the CEO can feel confident in his disclosure and what he writes as a public company.
This guidance by the SEC could make the OTC Listings more relevant — especially since it can be issued solely via corporate blog — allowing marketing teams to even further cut back on spending via traditional wire services.
In short, if you are a public company, and you don’t have a blog, you are losing money and not getting the kind of disclosure you can easily get through www.otclistings.com
Contact Us, Mark Bragg otclisting@gmail.com