As a blogger and human being of this particular generation I read a lot of blogs. Through the use of social media and tools such as Bloglovin, technology has enabled me to discover some amazing writing talent, experience the wider world and dare I say live vicariously through my favourite bloggers, but sometimes you'll come across a piece of writing, design or blog in general that makes you question all that you know about the world; and I'm not talking total worldly enlightenment I'm talking, aah the humanity!!! Okay so as you know I may be one to exaggerate but if it helps get my point across then that's really all that matters. In light of my recent burst blood vessel(s) paroosing the twittersphere and blogosphere I thought I would share some of my top blogging pet peeves and just say, stop it!
Image Credit: Pinterest
There have been so many blog posts detailing why this is wrong so I won't go into all of the gory details all I will say however is that this is theft and is a crime against copyright laws. Yes it may make your blog look very pretty, professional even, that is in fact because it came from a professional bloggers post! This makes my index fingers curl up inside my body that's how great a peeve it is for me, it is an automatic 'unfollow' and discredit to your blog. If you want to learn a bit more about image crediting, blogging and copyright you should have a read of Forever Amber's post here.
Scheduled Promo Overload
Last week I unfollowed somebody on Twitter for posting 15 (yes you read that right 15!) promotions for the same post in a row on Twitter. Don't get me wrong, scheduling is sometimes an amazing thing, a fantastic promotions tool for bloggers, but if you're posting the same Tweet at say hourly intervals someone is bound to notice (FYI that someone is me!) for me it's off putting as I like to feel as if I'm having a conversation with the blogger but it's obvious that particular person is switched off and just happy enough to post out automated messages.
Twitter Auto Responses
Bleh, the ultimate form of shameless social media poaching, you know the ones I mean, 'Hi thank you for following me on Twitter, why not follow my blog too,' with sickly, sugary x's and o's. Again it's so impersonal and isn't the entire point of blogging to share your views with the world, open up a dialogue and meet new people. After extensive research and attempting to open up a dialogue with the particulars who have these auto responses I can confirm they are not interested.
So this may have disgressed int more of a social media scheduling, response, twitter rant but it kind of links to blogging right? I'd love to know what your biggest blogging pet peeves are or even social media peeves, in fact just use the space below to have a good old rant, those are my favourites as you can probably tell. Be sure NOT to send me your auto responses on Twitter or spam me with your promos (grrrr internal screaming) but quick plug if you do enjoy my rants and ravings be sure to follow Granite City Girl on Bloglovin.
Until next time folks, screaming internally at all of the blogging blunders.
H.Elizabeth x
Ahhhh all of these get to me too! I'm also not that keen on bloggers who dont respond to messages, whether that be directly to the person or in a big 'thank you all for the comments' way (depending on how many messages you get on posts). I just think it's a little rude to ignore your readers! But hey ho!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and love the blog layout xx
Lauren | shynature.blogspot.co.uk
That's a good one, yeah I know sometimes feels like shouting into the abyss like is this person really even there?! I understand if it's a massive blogger but someone with a couple of hundred just comes across as quite rude I agree!
DeleteHannah | Granite City Girl x
The Pinterest image credit is just the worst. I will happily sit for hours finding royalty free images to stay in the green - it frustrates me no end when bloggers don't use images right!
ReplyDeleteExactly there are so many other options that don't involve theft, some people just aren't willing to make that sort of effort!
DeleteHannah | Granite City Girl x
I told someone not to use Pinterest as a source, and they then started to credit the blogger...I was like...nice try but you cant just use other peoples photos. They then left the group we were in - so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteI think it's mostly down to a basic misunderstanding of copyright and you know ignorance on their part for not looking into it further!
DeleteHannah | Granite City Girl x
Ooh, just clicked through to this from FB, and was so happy to see you linked to my post - thanks so much! The Pinterest thing infuriates me, as does "credit: Google images" or those disclaimers people post saying, "I don't claim to own these photos: if one of them's yours, just let me know and I'll take it down". Er, no, you don't get to steal from someone on the basis that "I'll stop doing it IF you find out"! It honestly amazes me that people think that's OK! I also hate auto DMs with a passion - they have the exact opposite effect from the one intended for me!
ReplyDeleteIt's no problem, I really find your blogging tips posts so informative and this one in particular struck a chord with me! Whenever I see something like that it just makes me think they're trying to cover themselves, these bloggers could be the best and most talented writers in the world and I'll automatically discredit them for being too lazy to take their own images or at least use stock photography!
Deletejust to butt in here - i had no clue about image theft until i read Amber's post too, so - thanks again for that Amb! and Hannah - you're SPOT ON with that Twitter over-promo nonsense - i reckon i know who you're talking about and worst part is, i worked with her on something, and one day she'd tagged me in NO LESS THAN one tweet an hour promoting the collab... #STOP
DeleteI really don't hesitate with the unfollow button when I feel someone is over promoting their blog / post / product or whatever it is they're trying to push, because it is just that, pushy, no use in your Twitter feed being bogged down with promo posts!
DeleteHannah | Granite City Girl x
Man, I could go on and on about things I hate about other bloggers (some of which I'm a culprit myself). There are so many lazy and money-grabbing bloggers out there it can be so infuriating. Have you ever heard of GOMI (Get Off My Internets)? I am going to be honest, it's a guilty pleasure of mine where people just talk about other bloggers and its just hilarious to read.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the Real-ness!
XO Sahra
Que Sera Sahra
I think this GOMI is a great outlet haha I'm sure it'd save my blog from getting a bit ranty as it has been these last couple of months! It's like real reality TV in a way!
DeleteHannah | Granite City Girl x