How has the use of social media impacted upon copyright issues?

1. How has the use
of social media
impacted upon
copyright issues?
By Gabrielle Tawyer

2. Social media has grown…
Social media has grown exponentially in the last
few years and will continue this growth in the
future. Technology such as Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Instagram, Flickr and blogs are used to
meet new people, keep in touch with old
friends, communicate with family overseas,
present information to potential employees or
as simple entertainment. This technology has
changed how we interact and connect and
the frequency at which we do this.

3. The rise of social media means we can now
run our social lives without even leaving our
homes, with most Facebook users primarily
using the site to maintain friendships with
people they communicate with on a
regular basis in the offline world.

4. Social media analysts Social Bakers reports
that 55.11% of the Australian population are
Facebook users. In January 2012 it was
claimed by Semiocast that they were 383
million Twitter profiles worldwide, however,
eMarketer predicts this will double by 2014.
In 2011, The Week reported that LinkedIn is
catching up to Facebook and Twitter with
100 million users at the time.

7. Copyright…
Copyright in Australia is automatic and
protects the original expression of ideas
either on paper or electronically. However,
it does not protect the ideas themselves
and does not protect against the creation
of a similar work. Copyright protects such
creations as books, films, music, computer
programs, sound recordings and media
broadcasts. Copyright does not yet extend
to tweets or Facebook statuses.

8. What happens when social
media meets copyright?
Social media is commonly used to share
content amongst social networks. It allows
people to repost, retweet or resend
information, images or video created by
others. This ease of reproduction through
the rapid growth of social media is not
effectively controlled by existing copyright
laws, leaving content producers susceptible
to intellectual property theft. Reproduction
is commonly seen through appropriation.

9. Appropriation occurs when existing content is
altered to offer content that is new and
interesting. A common source of appropriation
is the lip synching videos that can be found on
YouTube. Appropriation of music is a production
method that threatens intellectual property
rights, especially if used for monetary gain.
Watch the following YouTube video of a violin
remix of popular song Don’t You Worry Child by
Swedish House Mafia. Is this simply intellectual
property theft or a creative appropriation that
adds to popular culture?

10. The future…
It is unknown how social media will continue to
impact upon not only our social lives but also
intellectual property rights and copyright laws. If
appropriating and reposting as your own
content that has been produced online by
someone else is not considered theft, it could
be argued that appropriating and reposting
someone’s personal information from Facebook
or LinkedIn is not identity theft, creating a whole
new host of issues for internet users.

11. It has proven almost impossible for
copyright laws to keep up a pace
comparable to the growth of social media.

12. Bibliography
Australian Government, 2012. Copyright, viewed October 29 2012, <http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/copyright/>.
Huberman, B. A., Romero, D. M., and Wu, F., 2009. Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope, First Monday, vol.
14, no. 1, January 5.
Lamb, B., 2007. Why Educators Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Remix, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, no.
4, July/August, 12–25.
Papacharissi, Z., 2009. The virtual geographies of social networks: a comparative analysis of Facebook, LinkedIn and
ASmallWorld, New Media & Society, vol. 11, 199.
Social Bakers, 2012. Facebook statistics by country, viewed October 26 2012, <http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-
statistics/?interval=last-week#chart-intervals>.
‘LinkedIn’s Astonishing Growth: By the Numbers’, The Week, March 24 2011, viewed October 26
2012, <http://theweek.com/article/index/213445/linkedins-astonishing-growth-by-the-numbers>.
Wasserman, T., 2012. ‘Facebook’s U.S. Growth Slowing But Twitter’s on a Tear (STUDY)’, Mashable, March 6, viewed October 26
2012, <http://mashable.com/2012/03/06/facebook-growth-slows/>.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnro5EBrJzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHsofjkJCp8
www.twitter.com
www.facebook.com
www.geniusrecruiter.com