More About Google Alerts and Your Blog
May 24th 2007 07:10
In a recent post, Google Alerts Can Help You Detect Misuse or Abuse of Your Work, I wrote about the way Google Alerts can help you maintain the integrity of your work by finding and alerting you to the existence of any websites that may have made unauthorized changes to your content in violation of their purchase agreements (either intentionally or in ignorance). There are also those instances where a site might be (again, either maliciously or ignorantly) hosting your work entirely without your knowledge or permission, which led me to speculate about the possibility that Google Alerts might also be able to protect our blog posts from unauthorized use in the same way they would for an article, poem, story, or other piece of writing.
With this question in mind, I penned the post, Can Google Alerts Protect Your Blog Posts? At that time, I had begun conducting a little experiment to see whether Google's search engine would find my blog posts if I set up alerts using unique phrases from my posts or entire titles from a few of them--in addition to the original alert I'd set up using my byline (my only Google Alert up to that time.) I'd mentioned, in that post, that, within about five minutes, Google had found one of my posts (on my own blog), so things looked promising. This was about a week ago.
Over the past week, numerous alerts have come in, notifying me of my work found in various corners of the internet, including quite a few of my blog posts here at WritersNotes.Net. What does all this prove? I believe it shows that, if you are able to put in a unique enough string of search terms, when creating a Google Alert, Google can find your work no matter where it may be posted on the internet. I used such search strings as "crucify my content," "surviving and thriving in the freelance writing world," "some are thought-provoking, some brutally honest," and two of my post titles, "More Great Sites for Writing Moms" and "Cleverly Contemporary Quotes on Motherhood." (Of course, I placed quotation marks around these strings of search terms.) Each of these proved sufficiently unique for Google's search engine to be able to find them.
The next question is, do you care if someone takes your blog posts and puts them on their own website or blog, or on a public journal page? Maybe you do, and maybe you don't. It could, of course, depend on whether they leave your byline intact or dishonestly remove it, claiming your work as their own. But there are those who are not happy to have their work used, even when they are given credit, and they have every right to feel that way.
Recently, Deborah Ng, whose well-known writing market blog, Freelance Writing Jobs, is a godsend to starving writers everywhere, and who also pens the insightful Finding the Right Words blog, recently learned that some of her own content had been placed on a live journal site without her knowledge or permission. So this does happen. And if it can happen to someone as widely known and well-regarded as Deborah Ng, how much more likely is it that it would happen to you or me? I'm certainly not attempting to create an atmosphere of paranoia or suspicion by relating this tale and discussing what might happen; but I do believe the old adage "Forewarned is forearmed."
It may not really bother you to have someone post your work on a public live journal page, as long as they give you credit for your work, but isn't that just the point? It should be up to the writer who created the original work to decide whether or not it's OK for his or her work to be used that way. If the prospect of this happening does bother you and you care enough about the issue to take preventive measures, go to Google Alerts and set up a few.
All the instructions and info you'll need to set up your alerts can be found on the site. You can set up your alerts to search blogs, news, the Web, or groups, or they can be comprehensive; and you can set them up so you'll be notified of search results once a day, once a week, or "as it happens." (And by the way, you can have up to 1,000 active Google Alerts at one time--though I can hardly even imagine what a positive nightmare it would be to deal with that many!)
When Google's search engine detects one of your search terms or search strings in any of the places you have instructed it to look, you are sent an e-mail within the time frame you've chosen for that particular alert. What could be easier?
Of course, what you do after you've found that your work is being used without your permission or that it's been altered against your wishes or without your authorization is another story entirely.
That part might not be so easy.
Good luck!
Jeanne
P.S. Since writing this post, I've come across a blog entry,called ContentJacking: It's an Epidemic, written by Deborah Ng, in which she further discusses content theft and offers a few ideas on how to correct the problem, once it's been discovered. Check it out.
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
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Comment by Wendi
I have found my own work in various places, and it was easier to find than I'd thought. All I did was type my own name into a search engine and I was amazed at what came back. Of course, that ONLY covers the cases where I was actually given credit for the work.
At the time, I didn't mind it at all. In fact, I found it a bit flattering (feed that leo ego!) that others found my work worthy of reproducing. However, there is a certain sting that goes along with it that begs the question, "Why didn't they ask first?" My contact information is readily available pretty much everywhere, so shooting me an email would have been easy as pie.
Most of my older stuff I could care less about. But, shifting into the phase where I'm focusing more on career and actually getting paid for my writing, it absolutely makes a difference!!
In regards to writing as career, I absolutely love your blog and find it incredible helpful. Thanks for sharing what you know!
W
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
You're right that it is easy to check the search engines yourself, and I, too, have done that. In fact, I did so before setting up my experimental Google Alerts, just to see what types of search strings tended to bring results and what types didn't.
But, I find that Google Alerts are actually easier, because you don't need to go back and keep doing the same searches over and over; Google will do that for you automatically as long as a particular alert remains active.
Thus, once you've set up an alert, you can literally forget it and go about your other more important--or at least more immediate)--business, and Google will keep searching for your material, notifying you every time it is found.
It's just one more helpful little timesaver for us busy writers. But it certainly isn't a requirement for writing success!
Thanks again for your very kind words about my blog!
Till later,
Jeanne
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
Being terrified of copyrite myself, Id be utterly destroyed if someone ripped me off. Im that paranoid I only use my own photos and writing. If someone wanted to 'borrow' my work, gave me the credit AND said I could be found here on Orble Id be happy I was getting more coverage and that Orble itself was being advertised, but if someone literally ripped me off, thatd be the day I skip whistling to the lawyer to sue their pants off!
When Im so careful not to steal someone elses ideas, all I expect is the same courtesy.
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Google Alerts are one of the greatest inventions modern technology has given us--so why not take advantage of them?
Take care!
Jeanne
Comment by Wendi
Most authors are really understanding and feel honored when a request is made to reprint their material. I know people have contacted me several times asking if it's okay if they re-post something of mine in their own blog, publication, or website. When that happens? I do cartwheels! (they liked it, they really liked it!). The only case I think I'd have to say no is if I'd sold certain rights to a piece and it wasn't able to be reprinted.
Most authors have their contact information readily available. We like to get contacted! We put our info out there in case anyone wants to solicit work, or even better, praise it! It'd be so easy just to pop off an email to the author and ask them if it's okay if the work is shared on your blog!
The same is true with pictures! The whole copy and paste thing or "save this pic" has turned into a free-for-all for those who are either too ignorant (not an insult) about copyright laws, or too selfish to care.
Wanna quote me? Fine. Wanna republish one of my writings in full length? How 'bout asking first?!
You wouldn't walk into somebody's house as a guest and just go up to their refrigerator and grab yourself a bite to eat. You'd ask... Just because it's "there" doesn't mean you can take it.
Sorry... just thought I'd let out a little rant. *LOL*
W
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Happy to have you "rant" on my blog! And everything you say makes perfect sense! (Those are the rants I like best!)
Your blogging buddy,
Jeanne
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
I never copy and paste someone else's writing, it never occured to me! I used another site for my 'Kalika' info but I used my own words and linked to the actual site so he could get more hits if someone wanted to check out my source.
The internet is becoming a sticky place indeed....
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
Jeanne
Comment by Kleonaptra
Kalikapsychosis
That was for Wendi, I replied without the use of my brain...
Sorry again!
Comment by Jeanne Dininni
Writer's Notes
No need to apologize! It's all good!
Jeanne