On August 27, 2013, Facebook made sweeping changes to its Promotion Guidelines for Businesses. It's been over 2 years since the last updates to the Facebook Promotion Guidelines. The changes today may significantly change how businesses run promotions on the social network. What are the changes to the Facebook Promotion Guidelines? And how do [...]
FTC Disclosure and Online Marketing On March 12, 2013, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the long-awaited Dot Com Disclosures. The FTC Dot Com Disclosures guide provides guidance for online and mobile advertisers. Last released in 2000, the internet back then looked very different than it does today. Even now, after over [...]
Pinterest is one of the most popular social networking platforms, especially for people who are visual. Pinterest is currently the fastest growing social network, and if you're on it you know why. If you're not on Pinterest, you may not understand all the hype. Suffice it to say that Pinterest's digital "pin boards" have [...]
On Wednesday, November 14, 2012, Pinterest updated its Terms of Service (TOS) for both businesses and individuals as well as adding several other guidelines relating to how the site is used. Specifically, I'd like to address the Promotion and Marketing Guidelines. Pinterest now permits a business-level account and to guide businesses, these guidelines were added. [...]
Update: In 2014 I now have many more friends on Facebook so I'm seeing this Facebook copyright notice nonsense again. It was worthless in 2012, and it's still worthless in 2014. Original Post: Evidently, my lack of friends on Facebook means I don't have this nonsense cluttering up my feed. In response to the [...]
Is a DMCA takedown notice always the way to go? One of the most common questions I'm asked has to do with what to do when someone takes content, whether written, images, audio or video. Copyright infringement in the online, digital, and mobile spaces is getting easier and more prolific by the day. As [...]
We've all heard the phrase "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything." When it comes to social media and online content, though, its seems the phrase is actually "If you can't say something nice, blog, tweet, facebook, or post it online." While I shouldn't be, I am surprised at what people post [...]
Pinterest Copyright and How To Avoid Problems You either know what Pinterest is or you don't. For those who do, just skip this next section. For the uninitiated, let's bring you up to speed. Pinterest in the online equivalent of all those torn out magazine photos, articles and recipes you've got taped on [...]
Copyright fair use is a very misunderstood part of the law. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's fair to use. You’ve heard the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, but when that picture is protected by copyright, the picture is only worth three words: cease and desist. OK, [...]
On a weekly basis I find misdirected emails in my inbox. With a name as common as Sara, it's been happening to me for years. And now with blogging, there are so many with the same name it's easy to end up with an email not intended for you. Have you ever received an [...]