Fact: Unless you do it in a novel, creative or impressive way, you’re just bitching and nobody cares.

Case in point:

Bitching

Hey Zipcar, Your Liberty Mutual Insurance Sucks

Pwning

United Breaks Guitars

Do you see the difference?

If you want to get a brands attention on social media, start with your peers. If we don’t think it’s interesting enough to watch and recommend, that means we don’t care, and that means that the brand doesn’t care either. If you don’t, you should consider having a tea party instead of whining about that bad hotel service on twitter. Otherwise, you’re just annoying the audience that can help you get attention to your issue.

-M

I frequently use Creative Commons licenses images in posts to illustrate them when I don’t have an appropriate image of my own. I try to use friends images because it’s cool to promote your friends. When I can’t, I do an advanced search on Flickr set to only use Creative Commons licensed images. As a photographer and a writer and someone who has published many articles and photos it is important to me that my work is properly credited and that I do so for the photos that I use.

Photo by ~C4Chaos

But really, using and crediting Creative Commons images in the web is still a big gray area. As such, here are a few guidelines I use when citing photographers for their work.

Caption the photo

I’ve used images in blog posts and presentations and videos, and I always put a “photo by” credit visible on screen. On a blog I either use the captioning functionality of wordpress or use html / css to make a caption. Alternatively, you can run photo credits at the bottom of the post.

Link back to source

photo by Stevegarfield

If I embed a photo in my blog and use a caption I always set the photo to link back to the original image. This way if someone is intrigued by the image they can easily see who took it, and browse more. Plus everyone wants people to see and enjoy their creative work, so it’s a way to show appreciation.

Check specifics
The Creative Commons “Attribution” license specifies:

You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

As such, if you are aware of other ways the author would like his or her work attributed, you should do your best to follow those guidelines.

Notify the author

When I post an article with a Creative Commons borrowed image, I post a comment on the original image saying that I did and linking it back to the post. If someone has a problem with the use I’m happy to change the image, though I’ve never had a problem. If you do this on a blog and you are using photos you found on another blog, it is good to try to give them a trackback of some kind, so that their readers can see how you’ve used the imagery

Photos in Video

If you use photos in a video is is more problematic. You can’t link them back to the original image, and it’s not always practical to caption them. In this case I follow the Hollywood method and credit in full at the end with a URL of the source website or flickr set.

Get the name right

Make sure you spell it right! And if you get an image from a Flickr source, (for example I am indisposed), you should not credit it to @mehwolfy as that is clearly not the source of the image.

License your images

Make sure to utilize the Creative Commons or copyright specifications in Flickr or whatever image host you are using. Also make sure that you have the rest of your desires specified somehow so that people who care can find out and follow them.

My images are licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. And my additional directives are posted on this site here: http://www.iamindisposed.com/blog/copyright/ . Additionally, I have a link from my Flickr profile to my copyright page so those wishing to use my flickr photos can access the specifics and also contact me to find out more about how I want my images used.

There will always be people who will steal images and use them as they see fit and however they see fit to interpret the license, and there isn’t much you can do about that except hide in a cave and never share anything. But if you aren’t a professional photographer chances are that it won’t hurt you any more than any other form of rude doucheyness. Just try to comply with the photographers intents and wishes and if you can’t, do another search and find another image.

-M

UPDATE: I found an article outlining a case study for community and linkbuilding using Flickr Images. Though the links are immaterial because of the flickr nofollow tags, i still think it’s a valuable use case.

UPDATE 9-2-09: Just ran across this article by Stephen Shankland on Cnet.com on Flickr’s reactions to Copyright claims and some insights into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act:

Under the DMCA, a party holding copyright to a photo or other work can request that a Web site remove content posted by a third party that infringes that copyright; the Web site can avoid liability in the matter if it takes down the work in question when it receives the notice of infringement. The DMCA also includes a provision to let the third party that published the content challenge the claim. Read More

UPDATE 9-25-09: Creative Commons released research on the definition of “Non-Commercial.”

On a scale of 1-100 where 1 is “definitely noncommercial” and 100 is “definitely commercial” creators and users (84.6 and 82.6, respectively) both rate uses in connection with online advertising generally as “commercial.” However, more specific use cases revealed that many interpretations are fact-specific. For example, creators and users gave the specific use case “not-for-profit organization uses work on its site, organization makes enough money from ads to cover hosting costs” ratings of 59.2 and 71.7, respectively.

UPDATE 10-13-09: PDN Pulse Magazine reports on photo copyright infringement by GUP Magazine of The Netherelands.

“I guess it just bothers me when my work gets published without anyone from the publication contacting me to ask permission or let me know…. I don’t know where GUP got my image from, but I am presuming they just ripped a 72dpi version of my website.”

UPDATE 12/11/09: From Photographer Lincoln Barbour:

Here’s the deal. If you want to talk me up or talk up my client, I don’t mind if you use my photography in a bloggy editorial kind of way. I just want a heads up. If you take my photography to promote yourself (even if by bringing traffic to your website where you sell products or services), then we have an issue. These photos are my intellectual property and are protected by US copyright law. All rights reserved means I decide how and who uses the images.

I came across this in a Facebook post from John Shafer of PhotographyReview.com. There was the following comment by Ed Martini which I think definitely reflects a lot of opinions regarding photo intellectual property:

I don’t think it’s a different perspective at all. Anything posted in public is fair game for fair use. As long as I’m not selling prints, I have the right to link your publicly-posted photo to my site. Photo credit seems like a reasonable courtesy, but is certainly not a requirement.

If I were you, I would brand all my photos and only post them small. :)

If you really want to protect your IP, you should only exhibit prints in a gallery where security can prevent people from shooting photos of your photos.

Are you black with white stripes? Or white with black stripes?

-Shel Silverstein

Are you a foodie with bike geek days? Are you a PHP coder with IT infrastructure days? Are you a douchebag with coolguy days? The answer is yes, you are. Don’t pretend that you’re not.

photo by Talkingplant

So David says to use the Thumper rule. If you can’t say some thing nice, don’t say something at all. And the other day Steve posted this to Facebook: “Karma Tip of the Day: Un-Learn fear, guilt, anger, jealousy, insecurity and negativity.” I agree 100% with what they’re saying and know all too well that being funny and quick witted and being an ass hat is a fine line, but we in the field of social media expertification constantly and repeatedly espouse the notion that to succeed and be recognized you must be real, authentic and open about who you are and what you do. As such, does it make sense to play Pollyanna and pretend that nobody poops?

I say no. We’re creatures of emotion having real emotional, conversations reacting to things that we feel are important. Weather you drop effbombs, or keep it PG is irrelevant, everyone poops, and everyone needs to call someone a douche now and then. It isn’t the end of the world. And I argue that if we want to keep social media something that we all want to keep participating in we need to re-frigging-lax and not be afraid to whine a little.

Negativity

No one likes someone who’s a total downer who blasts everything and sees the dark cloud in every silver lining, but no one will believe you if you tell them you’ve “un-learned” jealousy, insecurity and negativity. Remember that most of the people who follow you have no idea who you really are and probably don’t care, they just want you to click on their links so they can get a woody looking at the tr.im stats. The rest of us do know you and do care about you and are following you because we feel we can learn something from you or benefit from your personality. If you have a bad day, need to vent, or need a burrito to feel better, we’re here for you. We won’t judge you (we may pwn you a little).

Dissing the competition

Yeah, you shouldn’t do it. Glass houses and all that crap, but sometimes you can’t resist and you call someone out and you start a fight. Understand that we’re all shooting from the hip and that a tweet or facebook comment isn’t a masters thesis. If you fuck up, apologize, and if someone fucks up, un-bunch it according to the Adkins un-bunching method and accept the apology, especially if it comes with a beer. Yeah, sometimes social media can SCTUALLY be social. Like in person and all!

Wining about Windows/the government/Microsoft/Outlook/Chris Brogan/Windows

These people and things are out there to be complained about. That’s what they’re for. So complain about them. At the same time if you whine too much, you’ll bring us all down. So try not to whine too much, and if you do, we’ll throw out a snide remark about your whining and perhaps call you a whambulance to take you to the vagina de-sanding ward.

black and white

So don’t worry about whether your black or white stripes are showing, just be content to know that if we squint while looking at you, you’re as gray as the rest of us.

-M

Guess what my top three web referrers were today.

Today (yesterday according to my blog) illustrates an important lesson in new media, social media, interactive media, or whatever the hell else you want to call it. Search is important, but for most people Network is more important. By creating effective vectors of content back to your website or core identity, you can get more traffic, REAL traffic. In my case it’s people who want to watch my videos and read my weird posts, and make silly comments. But your goal might be to sell your services or products.

Who cares. Point is, that you can’t rely on SEO alone to get people in the door. You have to be the person or personality that people want to find. In my case a dirt loving, joke making, smartass, douchey web geek.

-M

There’s a lot of buzz out there on how we can use social media tools to find a job, gain followers and even get qualified leads. But while we go about our lives there are many more important, if slightly more mundane, advantages for using social media.

How to piss people off in 140 characters or less

Some of us have been given the gift of being able to upset people with the things we say and write. But you don’t have to accept your limitations, while you can’t just jump into social media douchebagism, and there is no replacement for an innate ability to be an ass, you can get most of the way there with diligence, hard work and study. Don’t be afraid to screw up, there are plenty of us out there ready to tell you that you did, how and why that makes you a dumbass.

#1 Don’t limit yourself to people you know, trust and like.

It’s far easier to piss people off if you don’t really know them, aren’t super sure about them or already kinda don’t like them. Everyone is a potential former follower.

#2 Don’t think before you post a tweet.

This is the last thing you want to do. If your first instinct is, “it’s kind of out-there, but I’m pretty sure they’ll get it and think it’s funny too.” You’re probably right. If they don’t get it they’re too candyassed to be on twitter. Fire away.

#3 If you can’t say something nice…

Then don’t. The rule is 140 characters. If you can slam someone with that then do it. But don’t settle for the obvious. Get creative.

#4 Use a ton of profanity

Twitter is not for the faint of heart. Let the eff bombs fly.

#5 Don’t treat it like an open forum.

While anyone can get in and anyone can participate, they don’t have to. If they don’t like what you’re saying they don’t have to listen to you. It’s not an excuse, it’s an argument. Throw it out there, and you’ve won.

#6 Criticize the competition and insinuate that they’re douchebags
Social media is meant to cut all the bullshit out of political discourse. If you have more than 150 followers that means that a grip of people care what you think, so you should tell them.

#7 Use anonymous twitter accounts to slam your friends.
There is seriously nothing funnier than trying to get your followers to look at some shock-porn site. But there are obvious drawbacks to using your personal account for that. The anonymous twitter profile takes that problem completely away.

#8 Don’t go easy on it just because clients are following you

When you think about it, this makes no sense. They’re YOUR clients. They came to you because you know waaaaaayyy more about social media than they do. Who are they to judge whether or not your tweets are inappropriate, offensive or potentially infringing on your non-disclosure agreement. Just tell them that twitter is about authenticity. End of conversation.

#9 Never admit to having a sense of humor

You’re not funny unless people think that potentially, you’re serious. Like that scene in Good Fellas. That was SOOOOOOO funny, and only cause the guy thought My Cousin Vinny might actually disembowel him with a “gat.” GOLD!

Note: This is like apologizing and you never what to do it. Nothing good can come of admitting that you went too far and hurt someone you didn’t mean to hurt or posted something overly snarky that in retrospect you regret and wish you hadn’t done it. That’s not what social media is about. 

#10 Retweet, Retweet, Retweet

Just because one of your followers burns one of your other followers on twitter doesn’t mean you can’t get in on the action. Retweet the burn and add a comment if there is room. Either way, most people have no idea what a retweet is so they’ll think that it was your burn. They won’t really understand who got burned, or really, you know, WHY, but they’ll recognize that there was a burn, that you did it, and they’ll think you’re a badass for it, and you’ll get more followers.

This list is BY NO MEANS complete. Just know that these people are FOLLOWERS, not FRIENDS. We all know what a FRIEND is, but the great thing about social media is that it isn’t clear what a FOLLOWER is. Things are unclear. It’s too early to tell. The book hasn’t been written…

UNTILL NOW!!!!!!!

In July you’ll have a chance to download my eBook called “Social Media: Donky punch your career in 140 characters or less.” Subscribe to updates here.

-M

For the record, I was a Viddler FanBoy before I met Rob and hung out with him in Tahoe and got to know him.

But he’s right. Viddler is about your ideas and your brand and the communities that you develop based on your ideas, creativity and efforts. As Rob points out, “At this point you could dedicate energy to playing the Youtube game.. or focus on your own game. Viddler is glad to help in promotion, but getting big on Youtube is a jungle of cross-promotion and playing the subscription game giving power to Youtube.”

I focus most of my energy promoting my viddler videos because they in turn promote me, and make for a richer interactive experience with the people watching. YouTube doesn’t really get me that. 

Is YouTube better for viral videos of people farting, falling down, or doing outrageous thing? Probably. But That’s not really what it’s all about. At least for me… (Obviously I’m not above videos of people farting.)

Thanks Rob!

-M

I have to say that at first i thought Gary Vaynerchuk was loud and annoying. I still think that, but unlike his right-wing-douchetard brother-from-another-mother rush limbaugh, the motherfucker actually is right.

Not only that, what he says, as far as I can tell, he does. I emailed him today about speaking for the local Ad Club and he responded already. Thanks Gary! You’re an inspiration to us loud annoying people everywhere!

Key points about online marketing stratey for media:

• Media marketing onine is about sticking with it and being committed, it’s not a one-off deal.
• The english language is extremely important, but commas, spelling, grammar, useage add up to your own voice in online media. People who can’t see past that are probably not your target anyway.
• Drop some Eff Bombs
• If you can’t speak on a street corner in NYC without half the audience Qiking your every word and movement, you’re an amateur.

I have over 200 followers on Twitter. Some of that is useless chatter, some is people I don’t know and probably have nothing in common with, but we follow each other because of mutual friends, some of it is spam, some is business contacts, and some are real friends whose comments, observations, witicisms, links, rants and happenings I am interested in.

Yesterday I found a tool that helps you visualize yout Twitter useage. http://tweetstats.com/graphs/mehwolfy TweetStats.com is a cool tool that shows your tweet frequency by month, by day / time of day, hourly, daily, and who you most reply to. It also shows a cool tag cloud of frequently tweet terms.

A few facts about my Twitter usage: I tweet 350 times per month, my usage ramps up from Monday to top out on Friday, I tweet mostly by text, followed by Digsby, followed by web, I love @edadkins.

I’m not sure what that says about me, BUT I was just lamenting the fact that I don’t have remotely that many followers on Google Reader. Pretty much just Jerz, Jim, David, my sister, James Ball, Moser. And the only ones who ever recommend anything are Bobzien and Jerz. I use Feedly a lot too and have a gob of other friends there, I think because I have it hooked up with friend feed. But most of them I don’t know and most of them only recommend tech, social media, business, financial crap. There’s an article there about how to make good powerpoints. I tagged that #whothefuckcares.

So What blog reader are people reading? What are you reading? I use Google Reader and Feedly. FRIEND ME!

I’m frankly tired of reading the Alisters. I don’t care what Scoble has to say about how he gets the first alert on new Google products and how lame I am for not jumping on the bandwagon as soon as he did. I’m tired of Godin’s not helpful, semi-motivational generalities. There’s so much crap about SEO on the blogosphere that it isn’t worth looking.

I didn’t get into this for that. I love creativity. Interest. Creativity doesn’t flow from info. Technology isn’t a means to it’s own end. SEO means nothing with out good content. None of that matters if you have nothing to say about the world that isn’t self referential. I want to read about the hike you went on. I want to read tweets from the NKOTB concert. I want to see pics of your beat up face. I want to read about your troubles and your positive outlook on life. I want to see the web videos that keep you sane. Tell me about your day, your life, how awesome lunch was, your favorite beer, your search for love (or your flight from it)…

WHEN DID BLOGGING GET SO FUCKING BORING!?!?!?!?!

-M