Plagiarism is wrong. We all know it.

But, are honest bloggers inadvertently stealing and sharing copyrighted images?

Today’s Lesson

Before joining Pinterest, one of the issues I read about was: are images being uploaded to Pinterest illegally?

Questioning this is photographer and blogger, Elizabeth Halford, who wrote an article titled Will Pinterest Be Sued by Photographers Like Napster was Sued by Musicians? Both her post and the comments raise some interesting points.

ReadWriteWeb published How Pinterest Uses Your Content Without Violating Copyright Laws.

Although it appears Pinterest may be protected, the way I see it is the same may not apply to those who upload images.

Pinterest stresses the importance of linking to the original source of a photo, however when we “repin” a photo or content, unless we follow all of the links, we have no way of knowing if we’re breaking copyright law, nor do we know if the “original” photo is indeed the work of the person whose site it was found on, nor do we always know if the creator of the original image wants their image(s) shared. Add to that how different countries have different laws regarding copyright. Confusing, hey?

But it’s not just Pinterest we need to be concerned with, it’s also the images we upload to our blogs, Facebook, Google +, or any social networking site.

Copyright law may come into play.

As Mike Goad shared, in part, on his well researched site, Copy Right. Copy Sense.,

…As original, creative text flows from the pencil or pen, or as it is pounded into the paper with an old-fashioned typewriter, the copyright protection for those words begins.

For other types of work, the medium in which the work is fixed is different. Movies are fixed in the film, videos in the tape, paintings “in” the canvas and so on.

The key is that to be copyrightable a work must be in a form that can be copied.

Wikimedia includes publications on copyright, as well.

Although some items can not be copyrighted, many are indeed covered by copyright. Wikimedia includes a long list which includes:

1. Photos of people – sometimes copyright applies
2. Screenshots
3. Architecture
4. CD and book covers
5. [Some] clothing
6. Comics
7. Logos
8. [Some] maps
9. Toys
10. Videos

Wikimdeia also includes links to bad sources, as well as free sources.

For bloggers, or anyone who uploads photos online, it’s hard to know if we’re doing the right thing.

Some will assume just because a photo is not watermarked, it can be freely used. As Mike shares, that’s not the case.

Absence of copyright notice is no longer a reliable indicator of whether a work is protected.

In life, we often hear, “ignorance is bliss”.

With regard to copyright, it’s not.

There could be repercussions.

Today’s Assignment

Where do you get the images for your blog posts?

Do you worry about the copyright of these images?

Care to share?

Other great links on copyright include:

Legal Pitfalls in Taking or Using Photographs of Copyright Material, Trademarks and People,
by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Legal Guide for Bloggers
at Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Unfortunately, some of those comments which make us so happy, can be spam.

In the past, spam comments were easy to spot. They were usually comments filled with links to pharmaceutical drugs or sexual topics, or comments which didn’t apply to our blog topic.

Over the years the spammers must have realized that technique wasn’t working so they’re now playing on our ego; leaving positive comments that look authentic, however the words they choose could apply to any blog or blogger; copied and pasted throughout the blogosphere.

Their hope is to build their sites by receiving more backlinks and rank higher with the search engines and as far as our blog is concerned, they’re only using it as a vehicle to benefit themselves.

Bloggers who treasure comments can have a hard time differentiating between what is a real comment and what’s not.

Today’s Lesson

Since this blog gets thousands of spam comments, I thought I’d share a wide sampling of spam comments which have landed and stayed in my spam folder. (Feel free to skim through the spam comments. )

The words are nice, but the sites they link to are spam.

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So there you have it, comments which look real. but are instead, spam.

Today’s Assignment

Are you seeing a difference in the types of spam comments you’re receiving?

Are you tempted to approve these “positive” comments?

Care to share?

With blogging you’ll often hear the words, “link love”, but the technical term is “referral”.

In fact, if you look at your statistics, you see a category under the same name. Click on the links and you’ll see who and how someone is linking to your blog. (These are also known as “inbound links”.)

Today’s Lesson

With traffic coming to our blogs from a variety of sources, referrals could have the biggest impact. After all, these are fellow bloggers announcing our blog, product or services are worth checking out.

These inbound links can bring us more traffic and increased sales.

Being listed in the blogroll of a fellow blogger is another way we get referrals.

Being tweeted or Facedbooked about, helps too.

Personally, I like linking to others in my posts, but let’s look at what a few other bloggers are doing.

Here’s a small sampling of bloggers who use a blogroll:

1. Chase March of Silent Cacophony shows “Blogs to Check” in his sidebar.
2. The Farmer’s Wife lists “People I Read”
3. On Tammy’s Studio, you’ll find a category named “links”.
4. Susan Deborah, over at Meanderings and Reflections, titled her blogroll: “Let us go then you and I…”

You’ll also see bloggers doing extensive (and time-consuming) list posts:

1. Praveen of Geeks4Share wrote a post titled, “List of 60 High PR [page rank] Do Follow Blogs That Use CommentLuv

Other examples include:

1. Gail at Grow Map, who uses Twitter to “tweet” or “retweet” the blog posts of others.
2. Betsy at Passing Thru, includes the names of “Online All Stars” (bloggers) on her “Services” page and provides short write ups, as well.
3. Wendi and Deb of Blue Sun Studio include links to fellow bloggers in their ezine (newsletter).

Although some bloggers feel if they link to others they’ll lose readership, I’ve found the reverse is true.

It’s all about karma and good things will come back to us tenfold.

How sweet is that?

Today’s Assignment

Do you fear linking to others will negatively affect your readership?

If not, what is your favorite way of promoting the work of fellow bloggers?

Care to share?

P.S. This is the perfect opportunity for me to thank all of you who include me in your blogrolls, link to my posts and help to promote my blogs. I am truly humbled and honored to not only be mentioned, but to be your online friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

After all, even though we may say our blog is “all about us”, in actuality, without other bloggers visiting, commenting and giving us moral support, we could end up feeling pretty lonely in blogosphere.

All the more reason to show them some link love.

Today’s Lesson

Some bloggers feel if they link to other sites, especially in their niche, their readers will abandon them and not come back. From experience, I’ve found this is not the case. In fact, I’ve read comments on the sites I’ve referred others to which state, “Thanks to Barbara, at Blogging Without A Blog, I’ve found you.”

I see that as a win-win.

Giving credit to other bloggers can be done in numerous ways.

• If we are inspired by an article written by another blogger, we can link to that blogger in our post, stating how what they published was the basis for our post.
• We can provide a short quote from a fellow blogger and include a link to their site.*
• Writing a short thank you at the bottom of our post with a link to a fellow blogger is a great way to give credit where credit is due.
• We could create a list at the bottom of our post giving credit (including links) to all resources from which we have benefited.
• We can use our blogrolls as a way to link to fellow bloggers and title the list as: “Blogs I follow”, “What I’m Reading”, Or….
• The CommentLuv plugin is a great way to show our appreciation for a comment plus gives the blog author a chance to include a link to one of their posts.
• A “Top Commenters” plugin or widget can be used to reward those who frequently comment. Show the results in the sidebar.
• I use the Get Recent Comments with avatars plugin for my “Who’s Talking” section. (see sidebar)
• We could create a special award, link to the blogger and share with our readers why the blogger deserves the award.**
• Twitter is a great way to show link love. Send out a tweet and link to the blogger’s home page or to a post of theirs.
• We can share some love on Facebook by posting on their wall or sharing a link to them on ours.
• Other. ________[Fill in the blank]__________.

Keep in mind, linking to other bloggers doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily come by and say “thank you”.

If for some reason their pingbacks or trackbacks aren’t working properly, they may not know you linked to them.

And finally, when linking to big name sites or A-List bloggers, it’s rare they’ll show up even if they see the inbound link.

Today’s Assignment

Do you feel comfortable linking to fellow bloggers?

Or do you feel a link out will send your readers packing?

If you give credit to other bloggers, what method(s) do you use?

Care to share?

*Keep quotes from other sites short. Long quotes could be construed as plagiarism.
**Although you have put time into creating the award, don’t be discouraged if the blogger does not post it on their site. It may not “fit” the blogger’s online persona.

Linking to other blogs is a great way to gain more attention to theirs and ours, and linking internally (deep links) may work well to drive traffic to older posts, increase page views and improve our bounce rate. Links may also take a visitor to a site for which we’re an affiliate.

However, as beneficial as linking can be, how well does it REALLY work?

Today’s Lesson

In the Entice Your Readers To Stay Awhile post, many of you said you don’t click on related post links.

But, what about the other links we include?

When I look at my stats, what I’ve observed is most of the links others are clicking are the those which are displayed via the CommentLuv plugin to posts written by those who commented.

The internal links I provide get far fewer clicks.

Truth be told, I’m not surprised.

When I’m on other blogs, I’m usually under a time crunch and as much as I’d like to follow all of the links included in a post, most times I don’t. If I do click on link, I am more apt to either click on a CommentLuv link of someone who commented before me, or on a related post which has a catchy title or intriguing photo.

That’s not to say linking to others or linking internally is a waste of time. Links are great for:

1. Showing a courtesy to fellow bloggers
2. Telling our visitors about other blogs we enjoy
3. Drawing more attention to our blog
4. Referencing an article which echos our viewpoint
5. Directing readers to relevant posts in our archives
6. Or, ___(fill in the blank)_____

Personally I enjoy linking. I see it as a great way to build credibility and to also bring attention to the accomplishments of fellow bloggers.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to how we can encourage others to click on those internal links.

Do you?

Today’s Assignment

Do you feel linking to others or to older posts has been beneficial?

When you’re on another blog, how could a blogger entice you to click on a link?

And CommentLuv links? Do you click on those?

Care to share?

.