Copyright Online & Fair Use in Social Media for Recruitment
The Use of Copyright in Social Media for Recruiters
With the online world being dominated by images, what do you need to know as a business owner when it comes to copyright laws?
Sharing Images on Social
Visuals are huge in the social media world, particularly for recruitment businesses. Here’s a quick run-down.
A couple things can be seen here. First, using images in your social media communications is critical to its success, and second, social media is the driving force behind the unfathomable amount of photos being shared online every second. In fact, the world is on track to share over 2.5 trillion photos online by the end of this year! Video and images are so very important for your recruitment marketing efforts.
Social Media Copyright Risks
Because online culture evolves at such a rapid pace, the laws of the land are constantly readjusting to reflect the most recent trends in online activity. This is especially true in the case of online copyright and fair use on social media, both of which have yet to be clearly defined for the digital age. Fortunately, even online, by adhering to the fundamentals of copyright law, you will be protected in the majority of cases.
What is Copyright?
Simply put, copyright is: “the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work).” Its purpose is to strike a balance between protecting the author of a work, and serving the public interest.
Copyright offers the owner exclusive rights over their work. Copyright owners can:
Copyright is determined on a case-by-case basis, which makes it difficult to identify any clear-cut examples of infringement that could be applied to other cases seen in social media.
Creative Commons and Free Use
On the other end of the spectrum, “creative commons” work is always free to use. This dedication means that an author has dedicated their original work to the public domain, waiving all rights to their work worldwide under copyright law.
This work is free to “copy, modify, distribute and perform, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission” ( Creative Commons ). Sites like Pixabay or Flickr find photos that are released under Creative Commons! These photos require no attribution (credit to the author/source) and they are free to use.
Here are a few links to start
Internet Memes and Copyright Online
There are so many kinds of memes and recruitment specific memes that may or may not infringe copyright online that lumping them all into one category and stamping them with “approved” or “rejected” ink just doesn’t work. If you are curious about how the memes you might be sharing fall under copyright law, here is a quick guide.
Types of Memes
Memes can range from the popular “image macros,” to silly sentences repeated across the web. Obviously, catch phrases, hashtags and other word-based memes have no real copyright risk. It’s the visual and image macro memes that may pose a problem. Specifically, image macros that depict copyrighted characters and productions.
Pop Culture Memes
Let’s say, for simplicity’s sake, that most memes are fair use. I mean, no one is going to come after you for throwing a “damn, Daniel!” into one of your Facebook posts. The memes that may pose an issue are those that pull images from pop culture, like Futurama Fry or Boromir’s “one does not simply” meme. These character stills are pulled from pop culture media and turned into memes, yet the characters depicted are owned by a specific brand or company.
Could using a pop culture meme that depicts a copyrighted work or character result in a lawsuit? Yes.
Is it likely to? No.
But when it comes to commercial use of memes, it’s good to err on the side of caution, and avoid posting pop culture memes that clearly depict copyrighted works.
General Rule for Copyright Online
Even though the rules of fair use and copyright online are often left up to interpretation, a good rule to follow is assuming that all images and videos found online are protected by copyright, unless explicitly expressed as being free to use by the owner. Ultimately, it’s up to the author of the work to enforce copyright law if they find that their work is being used without permission.
The next time you decide to use any content that isn’t yours, ask yourself:
It will be interesting to see how copyright laws and content sharing practices change as social media trends evolve. For the time being, keep in mind that while a picture is worth a thousand words, using it without permission can cost you a lot more.
