"Blog placement" has become a growing trend in marketing, with elite bloggers receiving gifts like show tickets, laptop computers, trips to Paris and bottles of champagne. A surprising number of bloggers seem unaware of ethics codes that exist to guide relations with advertisers, says Jaap Favier, research director at a technology research company. "The lines are blurring," he said. "Who can we trust? I think we're going to go through a couple of years where it's going to get more confusing. What is true and what is fake?"

"When the word 'Israel' is said outside its borders, we want it to invoke not fighting or soldiers, but a place that is desirable to visit and invest in, a place that preserves democratic ideals while struggling to exist," said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, during a September meeting with "public relations executives, branding specialists and diplomats" in Tel Aviv.