The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

Social Networks, Too Much of a Good Thing?

| 6 Comments

Social networking is admittedly a part of my on-line life. You’ll find me tweeting and facebook-ing, and it’s fun. In fact, crafting is a big part of social networking, and not just on the mainstream social networks. Crafters use social networking to, well, network, duh, and to also promote their craft work. Because of this, over the last few years lots of craft-centric social networks have been popping up all over the web. At first, I was on the bandwagon joining them all, and at least attempting to participate on all the social networking goodness they had to offer. Eventually, it just became too much to keep up with, so while I may still lurk once in awhile, I’m not very active on them any more. I plain just don’t have the time.

Another issue with these networks is their user agreements. Like most people, I may not read every single word of these things, but I eventually started reading enough of them to realize that very often (not always but often) they have some kind of clause slipped in there about how they may share ownership of your content. I’m not using the exact terms they might use, but it boils down to that. They want what you write, create, whatever it is you want to call it. This means if you post a fun project you just designed on one of these sites, the owners of that site can republish it on-line, in a book, magazine, or on a t-shirt and sell it in the mall.

Granted, they will often claim that they would never do that, but if that’s the case, then why require you to agree to it in the first place? Why not simply be okay with a limited RSS feed of your blog, for example?

I’m not going to point any specific finger at any specific network, but the reason I decided to post about this issue is I think many craft bloggers don’t necessarily realize what they are or could be giving up when they join all of these groups. Obviously, each of us has to make up her or his own mind when it comes to participating in a social network depending on the time we have and the comfort level we have with each of them. I’m just saying, read the fine print, especially the part about copyright, before you click “yes” to any social networking user agreement.

Author: Tammy

Welcome to the Crafty Princess Diaries, my weblog and site where I get to blab about my passion for crafts, primarily jewelry making, and my crafting career. My name is Tammy Powley, and I decided to call my blog the Crafty Princess Diaries because of this very dorky picture I have of myself and because my husband often refers to me as “the princess and the pea,” which is just another way to say that I tend to be particular sometimes. Along with this weblog, I have a number of jewelry making books published.

6 Comments

  1. You are so right about not having time for all the sites out there. I started on many as you did but have forgotten about many. I received an email from one saying someone had “friended” me. I couldn’t even remember my nick name which they required to even get my forgotten password. I just don’t sign up anymore. Twitter and Facebook are enough for me.

  2. You are so right!

    These days, if you want to market an item…better not blog it!

    I enjoy your blog by the way! and not in a bad way!!

    Kathy

  3. Tammy, I’m so glad you wrote this post! Now I know it’s not just me that’s anti-social. lol.

    I think Facebook, even, is a big time sink. All the experts say I should be using it more, but to find the time is a challenge.

    You’re so right about protecting your content and copyrights.

  4. Your blog was highlighted on our arts & crafts social media website (ironically)- http://creatingthehive.com/blog-post/2519/cosmo-cricket-flowers-and-crafty-links. I found your blog very interesting and wanted to let you know that our site DOES allow you to import a partial (or full) RSS feed! Maybe you should check it out.

  5. Hi, Tammy! I like this post. I just gave up with the social networking sites. Oh, I tried quite a few times but it eats your time up and sucks up your energy. I became friends with way too many people that did not even care about jewelry. I’m just thinking a website is #1 home-central and #2 is a Blog to maybe support it and be social and still stay on point more or less. Other than that, if people want to take friendship to anther level their are dinner parties, events to attend and good old fashioned emails! ha ha

  6. I totally agree, Kenneth. It is easy to get lost in these SNs if you aren’t careful, and there just aren’t enough hours in the day for them all!

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