Share other people's content? Is that allowed?

I recently read an article on Frankwatching, about whether you are allowed to share other people's content on Instagram. As long as it's about Instagram, the situation is still pretty simple: use the features Instagram offers you, do name and source attribution, and respect the personality rights. But there is more content in the world than on Instagram alone. What about that?

Permission

In a previous blog, we talked about the three golden rules for an optimal customer experience. The moment your customers start posting pictures of your product online, you know you've done something right. In that respect, Ikea did a very smart thing by inviting consumers to share images of IKEA products in their homes with the tags @ikeauk and #ikeaatmine on Instagram or Twitter. That produces really beautiful images of homes that I regularly wonder if anyone really lives there. Worth their weight in gold. But then there's a whole department working on all the approvals. That's quite something.

Repeat annually

In addition to Instagram and Twitter, of course, we also have Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat and whatnot. Not to mention the content you generate yourself. Even if I shoot a picture in the auditorium during an event at my children's school, I have to ask the students for permission. And not once, but you have to repeat that annually. Not everyone is aware of this. For example, I recently gave a demo of our DAM system. To make it more recognizable, I always look online for images of the organization in question and upload them. I then always tell them that I discard those images immediately after the demo. During this demonstration the director indicated that that was not necessary, he had asked permission from his staff to use the pictures. Two problems. That permission had been given five years ago and, moreover, that permission had been given to the organization in question and not to me or Comrads. So you can be pretty wrong about that.

A DAM system provides an overview

An approval to reuse an Instagram post, permission to use a photo you found on Facebook, a quitclaim of a photo you found elsewhere, try to tell it all apart. By using a DAM system, you create overview. You can easily manage all information about usage rights and quitclaims, including user-generated content. Your DAM system then makes sure that the source is mentioned when you insert the photo anywhere, even if you use one of our other solutions such as the web publishing module. The system is even smart enough to automatically notify those who have ever downloaded an image whose rights have expired. Then at least you don't have to worry about that anymore and you can calmly deal with your customer.

Curious?

Want to talk further about what a Digital Asset Management system can do for your organization and how to make its use a success? Feel free to contact us for a free on-site demo. We are happy to think along with you.