How an attempt to boost SEO is being disguised as a copyright infringement case threat. Having sent my own copyright infringement case letters to website owners using images without permission, I am familiar with the process of takedown notices and claims for unauthorised use. Howver, on Christmas Eve 2023, I received a threatening letter from … Read more
The Visit Forres website and app launched this year and I provided a substantial quantity of photographs taken over the years to illustrate the site. In October, we produced a wall calendar. It’s nice to know that the snapshots of Forres through the seasons are making their way all over the world, and there will … Read more
Scottish Enterprise Awards and other vanity schemes just prey on the gullible There can be few better feelings for business owners than the news they’ve won an award. To know that hard work and good practice is being recognised by your industry peers, can be very valuable. And so it’s no surprise that there are … Read more
It’s unfortunate that I’ve had to write this post, but it has become an increasing problem. Copyright in pictures (and words and videos) exists automatically by law. This should prevent people from copying them, but it doesn’t, and I have found people and companies using my pictures, and constantly having to track them down and … Read more
When I worked for Forres Events, the organisation behind the European Pipe Band Championships, for each of the six years it was in Forres, I got the opportunity to meet and write about some amazing people, including John Wilson, a retired Chief Superintendent of the former Strathclyde Police force, and life-long piper. I spoke to … Read more
If there’s one thing Facebook does well, it’s muddying the waters. It distributes an app which it claims helps people connect with the things they care about when really it listens in to your life to extract data to sell to advertisers. It encourages you to share your photos while extracting irrevocable rights to use … Read more
A wise person once said to me that it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it. And I am regularly reminded of this pearl of wisdom by the foolish notion that a business should post ‘content’ frequently on their social networks to be considered ‘alive’, … Read more
Not a day goes by that I don’t see yet another social media management service pop up. Making promises such as: “We’ll take over your social media, freeing up your time to focus on growing your business,” “We’ll engage on your behalf,” “It drives sales.” That’s the clarion call of companies which promise to ‘manage’ … Read more
When high street cosmetics chain Lush announced it was switching up social, the press was quick to translate that as ‘switching OFF social’. The BBC said Lush quits social media in UK. The Independent – Lush to close its social media accounts And even industry mouthpieces said the same thing. The Drum was straight in … Read more
Apple spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Twitter in the run-up to the launch of its iPhone XS, in order to get the world talking about their trio of new phones, but still refused to tweet organically. In fact, Apple has never tweeted, so why did it think Twitter was the right platform? DigiDay … Read more