RE: Mmmm, Smells Like Plagiarism...Yes it does!
I agree with all your points but I have a question. I'm a memer on Facebook and other social media sites. I've created around 200-300 memes some spread far, some didn't. But I have a meme bank with over 10,000 memes that I regularly use.
These are pictures that inherrently have almost no attributable rights attached unless someone signs it with some form of their web handle, trademark, or web address.
I'm going to be using memes in my articlea from time to time, but I know I didn't make many of them, and beyond that there is no valid way of attributing credit for that meme unless they signed it.
Do you think that people give up intellectual right of pictures that they share on social media for the explicit purpose of creating a viral quip or comparison?
I have never signed my memes, and so I don't really have any valid way of attributing ownership of even memes I've made to myself.
Thanks for your response if you have time to think about my question.
I'm not a legal expert on it but I did spend years being told what was and wasn't plagiarism and had to take several classes on it in university.
To your question: I don't think people give up their rights to their intellectual property, even when it's meant to go viral, I think in our present age it just happens.isn't questioned. By this I mean, people just don't understand the legalities of intellectual property and may believe they've given up those rights. Some may not even know intellectual property is a concept. Some may give up those rights without explicitly stating it.
On the other hand, some get very upset about it. When my books are pirated I'm very upset and try to stop it. When my pictures were downloaded and used in other places on Photobucket I was very, very upset about it. I understand intellectual property though. What I didn't understand was it can happen. That doesn't mean I think it should though.
In my opinion, and it is only my opinion, using someone's property without a commercial license, or their consent, is an act of plagiarizing. If you've made memes with your own pictures then they are yours. If you decide to let people use them, that's up to you. In other cases, the creator may say "here's your lawsuit, now pay up." From now on, if you're worried about it, sign your work, it is your intellectual property. Even if you give up your rights to it, it's still a way to promote your work.
If you're worried about future use of other memes, I'd say try to find a way to attribute the meme to at least a website. Steemit is trying to create original quality content, memes are an iffy subject, as far as I'm concerned. We've seen articles being ripped off, photographers having their pictures stolen, and chefs having their hard work stolen by some shady people. THAT has to stop.
My motto has always been, if in doubt, find something else. I hope that helps in some way, I've spent the day making my brain work on author stuff so I may not have answered you as you expected or wanted, but I'm tired. If you have more questions, ask away. :) I do hope I helped somehow, though. :)
Thanks for your response. Yeah you really cleared up the gray area I was forseeing. From now on I think I will attribute memes i use to a source on facebook, at the very least the person I got the meme from
Great, I'm glad to have helped out. That sounds like a good idea, cover your own self, and stay aware. It will make life easier in the long run. :)
Smuggly-Sparrow is totally right of course, but excellent question @envy112.
The truth is, Facebook would collapse and burn without people like you pushing out the memes. It's basically all I enjoy on FB lol
There are however sites with millions of free pics for making your memes you can seek out. Probably even the ones you are using now will be on there.
Keep on meming man! I love em!
thanks lol. Gotta love meming lol. I can share an article on facebook and get like 50 likes and 10 shares, but memes man, they can be liked thousands of times and shared hundreds of thousands. Its crazy how biased facebook algorithms are towards pictures over the written word.
Especially steemit. Ive noticed facebook algorithms tend to bury steemit posts. I can post an article from any other website on the web and it will get 10x the exposure than a steemit article
I got to believe the FB algorithms seek and destroy posts about Steemit. They did that back in the day with blocking posts about Tsu and got a bunch of bad press for it. FB eventually reversed its decision!
Good question and I followed.
Thanks man I returned the favor.
Yeah I honestly believe without a doubt they do. Not only that but if you have a page on facebook, It will tell you how many views you have and try to sell you advertising by boosting the views. But I dont think that the number of views they display is at all accurate. Not only that but they limit your posts if they become too popular without you paying for it on a page. I once had a meme that I shared that got seen by over a million people on facebook, but as I watched it cross 1 million, its popularity massively nosedived to almost no more engagement. That doesnt just happen lol
Yes I believe that. I try to get my FB people to come over here. I wish they could see how much money they would have over the course of a year here, for doing the same stuff they do there for free!
Im slowly trying to do the same thing. Best way ive found is to just talk about steem without linking it. Posts without a picture or a link tend to spread really far in your friendlist.
A well put together meme is worth a thousand words aye.
The post I made about online friendships went wild on FB, I mean serious sharing and likes occurred. On here, it barely made a blip on the screen. It's crazy, but it is what it is.
Yeah. I just try to have a media presence on all major platforms. An earlier post I made called "What does Political Correctness Do?" that made here in steemit got a ton of attention on minds.com. too bad many people on there haven't discovered steemit yet
We'll just have to keep trying. :) Spreading the word.