Stop, Thief!

The only thing I hate more than spam is plagiarism.

This past week I have noticed more and more with an alarming increase, the number of tweets that have been plagerised. I am disgusted by the blatant arrogance of followers who think they have the right to merely copy and paste other people's tweets and pass them off as their own shit.


To show you what I mean by the harm that is created by online plagerism. You go to see a stand up comic, you tweet information about their show and followers can experience this in real-time. The following 2 example tweets show how tweets can help or harm them.

“I am at *insert comedian* show. He is so funny, what a laugh. highly recommended”

This tweet is beneficial to the comedian because people are more likely to go and see the show based on peoples recommendation

“A follower walks into a bar .... *insert punchline here*”

This tweet is damaging to the comedian, who isn't even credited. If any potential new fan can read and enjoy their jokes online, they are less likely to spend their money to watch them perform.

If you read the Terms of Service you will see that it explains that they respect the intellectual property rights of others and they expect their users to do the same. Twitter allows you to share content as long as stick to some simple rules.

• You have to credit the author ( RT, PRT, HT, OT and VIA)
• You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information
• You may not impersonate or falsely attribute content to another users
• You may not tweet threats of violence against others
• You may not publish slander or false accusations

Twitter has a defined process that allows users to report copyright infringements and they also have the right to terminate repeat offenders.

Nothing annoys me more than the 'it's just twitter' reply, especially when its from the person who stole the work. Twitter is a fast paces, constantly updating media, but that's all the more reason it's important that we're given the proper credit for our work. The online world in transitive and that makes it's all the more easier for a thief to sneak in and steal something. This matters even more on Twitter as it is tough to establish staying power or to determine authourship, which is why I defend my tweets with such intensity.

But 'It's just Twitter' also disregards how much the site means to so many people. We can't all get a TV series or a book deal, but twitter has a massive impact on our style, our sense of humour etc.  It may "just" be Twitter to you, but to many of us, it's a unique outlet for our voices. And when another person takes credit for my voice? You're damn right I take that seriously. I think I'd be a fool not to.