Is sniply the best or the most evil URL shortener in the world?
I was chatting with Carol Lynn Rivera on the topic of content curation, and I happened to mention the URL shortener Sniply.
Sniply, for those of you who don’t know, is a URL shortener that allows you to put a call to action (a banner, button, form or other) to the article you are sharing. You can find out more at the sniply website- http://snip.ly/
From one side of the argument it could be a way of bringing in leads and traffic when you are sharing other people’s content. It’s a content curator’s dream. You can promote other people’s content as well as bring people to you….
or… it’s effectively plagarism and a way of putting your ads on other people’s content.
What do you think? There is a great discussion going on in the Google+ post. I’ve disabled comments here so you can comment on the original article.
#SocialMedia #SocialMediaTools
Originally shared by Carol Lynn Rivera
Today thanks to Ian Anderson Gray I learned about a service riding on the coattails of content curation that really incited a meltdown. After the meltdown I sat on it and thought about it rationally for a while and went through pros and cons and tried to be fair. And then I had another meltdown. So basically I’m a puddle of lava on the floor right now, thanks Ian!
Anyway, I want to share this because it’s worth opening a dialogue and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
The service I just learned about is called snip.ly and the premise is simple. You create a floating ad with your photo, your message and a link to your website, signup button for your email list, or a link to your free download – and then you put it on someone else’s site without their knowledge, approval or permission.
Want to see it in action? Visit this link… with fair warning to Ryan Hanley!
So the next time you curate something, you can rather easily place your offer over the curated content. Sharing a Forbes article? No problem. Throw on a floating box with a signup for your email list. Sharing a Copyblogger article? Fantastic, let people download your ebook right from their page! Sharing a Web.Search.Social article? Oh, HELL NO. Don’t even go there right now, because I’m not sure what happens when lava melts down.
You may have discerned my opinion on the matter. Now you tell me.
** Is it ok to put your message, face, download, email signup on someone else’s site, which they have no control over?
** Is it ok to do it in a way that makes this transparent to the reader, who has no clear way of knowing that they’re signing up for/downloading/visiting a completely unrelated entity?
** Am I just overreacting?
I came across the attached article today because after I’d heard and learned more about this service I immediately went to work finding a way to block it from being used on my site. And karma came through because I found Jonathan Bailey’s amazing article on the subject. Jonathan is a plagiarism expert and he brings up not only some ethical questions but some legal ones that are worth taking a look at.
He also shares some ways of blocking this from being used on your site. I can tell you at least one person who I know is going to be doing some programming. (I’m looking at you, Ralph M. Rivera)
Share your thoughts with me on this – would you use this service? Do you want someone else using it on your site?
In the words of Jason T. Wiser … “What, are you kidding me?”
And do me a favor and share Jonathan’s article with every content creator you know.
Would love a few other specific people in on this conversation including those I’ve already mentioned. What say you Dino Dogan Alisa Meredith Mike Allton Colleen Conger Melanie Kissell Pam Aungst Ian Cleary Patrick O’Keefe Brooke Ballard and anyone who feels like chiming in!
PS: If you comment on this let me know if I can use your comments in the article you KNOW I’m writing about this next week.
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2015/01/26/snip-ly-putting-other-peoples-ads-on-your-site
