How Not to Make Friends With Bloggers: Don’t Steal Ideas!
When I first started blogging over four years ago, I never felt like I “belonged”. There were several circles of bloggers that I didn’t “fit” into, but over time I found my tribe per say.
Everyone starts someplace when it comes to blogging. Sometimes in the beginning it is so easy to be misguided, intimidated, or just flat out lost. But there are a couple small suggestions I have though up recently because of personal experiences I have had with other bloggers. Those of which are new to the block.
Now, when it comes to thinking of ideas and original content for your site, it can be extremely hard. There are so many blogs and bloggers that it seems like it must be impossible to think of fresh and original projects and ideas. It may have been done before, and if you don’t read a lot of other sites, you may be better off in the long run.
But there is one thing you should never do. Like… ever.
Steal someones idea.
I see this happening more and more. Blog projects, posts, and of course ongoing series on websites.
This also happened to me personally not once, but twice this year.
I shall share part of my story.
Over the past year (and summer) I started two projects which I stopped when I saw someone had stolen my idea. Meal Plan Monday was one, and the second was a summer reading challenge for moms. Both of the ideas had been taken by the same blogger, with slight changes and packaged up like her own cutting edge fancy idea for the season.
While I understand that there are a GAZZILLION meal plans floating around the blog-o-sphere, the way it was executed, and the time frame was downright copycat.
Same with my summer reading challenge. Two posts and I was finished because when someone took it upon themselves to steal my idea and pass it off as their own, when I had put work into it, it broke my spirit and the idea no longer had any kind of interest for me.
This happens to a lot of bloggers, many of which will shut their site down completely with these issues. Or launch a full scale smear campaign.
Moral of the story?
DON’T STEAL SOMEONE ELSE’S IDEA.
If you like an idea or a project, e-mail the blogger and ask to be a guest poster. Ask if you could participate or contribute. Bloggers typically don’t bite. The vast majority are wholesome and friendly women who would love you to email them about whatever they are working on. I promise you that!
But what not to do is take the idea to adapt into your own, thinking someone will never connect the dots. Bloggers will find out and they will be pissed. If the material is copyrighted you could also find yourself up for a hefty legal battle.
Why not avoid that along with the public humiliation, which also often comes with these kind of situations?
 |
Related posts:
Tags: bloggers, blogging 101, content stealing, friends, making friends with bloggers, stealing
How horrible! It makes me sad when people don’t work together to support each other. I have found that when I support other bloggers it just ends up helping us both.
thanks for telling that story ive tried to be orginal but in my genre i know there are going to be other recaps and reviews of shows and mine will be later than theres but i dont let it get to me.
Actually I would say adapting it with your own spin IS what one should do. That’s called being inspired or influenced and how people (especially those who make things) strive to develop something even better. Straight out copying is not a good idea. Though I have seen two unrelated people who didn’t know about each other come up with similar concepts in the same time frame. It happens. Ideas themselves are not copyright able but your images and actual words are.
IMO the worst is when you are bouncing ideas off someone in confidence then they go and do it before you start.
There are so many copy cats out there it’s hard to even keep up anymore. It’s frustrating and I’m so sorry this happened to you. I hope you find some bloggers who are more willing to work with you