Thursday, March 8, 2012

C'mon People! Give Credit Where It's Due

I've noticed a trend lately on blogs I frequent, and it's really irritating me: failure to credit when appropriate.

I admit I didn't always give image credit when I first started this blog - I would just for the most part use Google images until I started learning about how those images aren't up for grabs and can be copyrighted. However, if I ever saw something that prompted a blog post of my own I've always said such and if I unknowingly posted something that I didn't realize was posted somewhere else I apologize now. 

But that brings me to something else . . .

When people knowingly rip something off of another blog and put it up as their own. This is not just bad for not giving the creator credit, but it's bad for the blogging community overall. Just in the 10 days I've seen a poster that was created by a company I'm closely familiar with shared without image credit more than once. I empathize with the creators as a fellow entrepreneur and knowing how I'd feel if someone did the same to me.

I've learned especially in the past year, how tight the social media community is especially between bloggers of the same demographic. Coming from a background in media I understand the importance of page views and vying for marketing opportunities but we must, must, must give credit where it's due. 

Perhaps it's just laziness or forgetfulness, but it needs to stop. 

I know it probably won't soon especially with all the chatter surrounding copyrights on Pinterest, but at least Pinterest is a larger medium bringing the issue to the forefront. 

If you've copied an image/blog posts that doesn't belong to you it's not too late to start doing right from here on out. Check out Blogging With Amy who has some great posts on the topic.


   

3 comments:

  1. This is so important indeed... Was trying to join a blog social media thing and they were very particular about that which I appreciate because you want to give credit for sure!

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  2. Whew, I could write a whole lotta something about this. Let's just say that a year into the blogging game, someone decided to copy my blog. Not one post, not a few pics, MY ENTIRE BLOG. Post for post, word for word, pic for pic. WTH??? Thank goodness a savvy friend found it and alerted me to the nonsense. **smh** Give credit where it's due!!!

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  3. Oh no @mrstdj! That's CRAZY! I've heard of people taking pieces but an entire blog? That's ridiculous. I'm so sorry that happened. What a good friend you had to alert you.

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