The downside of social media is the expectation that everything on the Internet is free. Some people regularly pass other people's thoughts and ideas off as their own. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. There are laws to protect people who use words to create art when those words are on a printed piece of paper. The digital age has left those laws behind. The concept that everything is free on the Internet has created a new breed of thievery AKA "copy & paste."
If you want to "borrow" someone else's brilliance all it takes is a few clicks to copy and paste it. Successful blogging is hard work. It requires dedication and discipline. When people use the content without attribution, it is stealing and completely unacceptable.
Manually monitoring this is close to impossible. Fortunately, you don't have to do it yourself. Tynt.com http://www.tynt.com/ offers a free tool that tracks when people copy content from your website or blog. Here is how it works:
I'm copying content from my blog to create a new post. First, I highlight and copy the information:
Then I paste it into a new post window:
Notice the "Read more: http://wilsonellisconsulting.com/blog/#ixzz1HWoHjHJ9" at the bottom of the content? How cool is that? If people are honestly copying your post with the intent of linking back, they just received a custom link. If not, they are wondering who is watching. They should be because Tynt provides you with reports on the copy activity:
Tynt also provides information on keywords:
Adding Tynt is a simple process, but it does require some coding on your site. I added it to my website and my blog yesterday, so the data is limited. I'm looking forward to learning more about how to best utilize this tool. If you are already using it, please share your best tips. If not, what do you think about it?