To Share or not to share?
Two major experiences happened to me this week on Twitter: one positive and one, not so positive.
I’d like to share BOTH of them here and would love YOUR input on this subject.
Recently I had a bit of a kerskafuffel (yes this is a made-up word, as I really don’t know how else to explain it) on Twitter with a fellow Travel Blogger.
I make use of an application called Paper Li, it takes the tweets that you favourite or from a hashtag or topic you are interested in and then integrates them all into one place on the web in the form of an online newspaper of sorts. Basically, it shares user content and credits the owner of the original Tweet. It then randomly chooses 3 top stories and sends a notification Tweet out from your handle, tagging these 3 Tweeters. No different from Retweeting an interesting Tweet, but automated.
So this fateful day it sent out its notification and one of the Tweeters replied with an angry Tweet demanding to know “Who gave you permission to use my content?”
I was taken aback as I thought that she, like most Travel Bloggers, would be happy to have her content shared. I tried to explain in a Tweet, but alas 140 characters proved to be insufficient for my lengthy explanations. To which I received a snappy reply in return: “Do not use my content without my consent” So I tried to reach out via DM, (Direct Message for the non-Tweeters reading this 😉 because I could clearly see that she did not understand Paper Li and somehow thought I was using her content and passing it off as my own. The last reply I received was “Never Mind no need to DM :-)”
I was completely thrown and yelled at my Twitter screen on my laptop (don’t think she heard me though) “If you don’t want your content shared, don’t post it on Twitter!”
The lesson here folks is; Twitter is a public domain. Meaning any content you post on Twitter, is immediately available to the public to share and do whatever with. I do not condone those that steal pictures or content to pass off as their own. That’s not what I’m advocating. By all means share but DO credit the source. If you do not want your content to be shared or “used with your consent” simply do not post it here….or anywhere on the web for that matter as that is probably the safest thing you could do.
The positive thing that happened was this little Tweet by my darling man @nelsonscomedy
It went VIRAL! 🙂 How clever and timely this content was…to use his own words (hope you don’t mind babe?) quote “Observe current narrative and respond with an agreeable and shared idea” Fantastic truth…I saw this photo on Facebook posted by someone who wasn’t even my friend and it was shared 499 times! YIKES!!!! and he isn’t even on Facebook…..
Now my only gripe about this was, despite the fact that people were sharing this left, right and centre…No credit!
Now I’m all for reposting what you see on one platform on another, but please please please give credit where credit is due. I’m not being biased because it’s my love that posted this clever content. When I repost great content from my fellow travel bloggers or just people who inspire me I ALWAYS state “shared via ….so-and-so” or “I saw this on so-and-so’s page and had to share” .
The post on Facebook simply said, “Saw this on Twitter” the user did not state where on Twitter she saw it and who it came from.
I politely posted ‘Thank You’ comments on the 3 shares from my own friends and emailed the original poster on FB thanking them for sharing my boyfriend’s Tweet on Facebook including the above screenshot (so they didn’t think I was lying or just a random stranger). I also posted on my own timeline to congratulate my love, as his post has surpassed all number of retweets I’ve ever had (ok so we’re a little bit of a competitive couple – he keeps me on my toes and I love him for that. Challenge is good! 😉 and I am very proud of my talented man, ok? I tagged my friend who had shared the one pic, stating it was from Twitter and she graciously reposted on her wall.
Now was I wrong to do so?
Just yesterday, a dude posted this image on his Twitter wall with no credits or saying where he got it from so it looked like it was his Tweet. Really? Can one be so blatantly plagiaristic? or let me call it what it is, downright creative content thievery. By all means share something you like, but to try pass it off as your own….c’mon now….you know better than that.
Again I say, give credit where credit is due!
Do you agree with me?
I’d love to hear your feedback on this, please leave your comments below.
with love
The Jax
