Here some great hints & tips from BirdAbroad after she got famous because of posting the fake Apple Store pictures from Kunming - please read this:
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What to Do If Your Blog Goes Viral: 10 Tips
BirdAbroad | August 20, 2011 at 2:26 pm | Tags: Fake Apple Stores, Seriously?!, Work | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/ppKGm-hV
When my blog went viral because of the fake Apple store post, I was totally caught off guard and made a lot of mistakes. I know it's all very exciting when this happens and people start contacting you from all over the world, but it pays in the long run to be hardheaded about this in advance. Below are a few pieces of friendly advice based on my experience, in case going viral ever happens to you.
Please add your own tips on this in the comments section!
1.Recognize what's coming. Have 1,000 people visited your blog in the past hour, when previously only 10 people came in a day? Is your content being rapidly Tweeted? Welcome to the land of the viral internet! Prepare to take action.
2.Decide what you want out of this experience. Are you looking to become famous on the internet? A full-time blogger? The next Paris Hilton? Or are you looking to maintain your privacy and your regular life? This will inform how and where you allow your content to be distributed.
3.Consider buying the domain name of your blog address (e.g. for myblog.wordpress.com, buy myblog.com).
4.Consider putting up ads on your blog. You may find this tacky, but when you realize that your content is spreading all over the internet and lots of people are making money off of it, you may feel differently.
5.Make sure you have a copyright notice prominently displayed. Decide on a policy of how your content can be used by different media outlets (e.g. blogs, print media, television). Be aware that US law does not recognize the "moral right of attribution" - that is, just because you ask to be publicly credited when you give permission for your content to be reproduced elsewhere, doesn't mean the outlet has to credit you. You having given permission for use of your content is enough for them to run it.
6.Consider watermarking all of your photos, or disabling the ability of others to download/right-click your content if you want to maintain strict control (this may or may not be easily done, depending on who is hosting your blog).
7.Realize that your content may have considerable financial value - don't just give it away to people who are going to be making money from it. (Remember: multibillion-dollar media conglomerates are not your friends.) In particular, demand in advance that you be remunerated for any use of your content in print or on TV. Technically, there's no difference in terms of copyright violation online/on TV/in print if your content is used without your permission, but there's something particularly galling about not being paid for your content to be used in print or on TV by someone else. May them pay up.
8.If you give permission for your content to be reproduced, do so in a limited way - BE EXPLICIT. For example: "Yes, you have the right to use this one particular photo for this one particular article, and nowhere else. You may not archive my content for future use."
9.Do not ever give permission for your photos to be freely used by a major warehouse of photos like Agence France-Presse (AFP), Getty Images, or the Associated Press (AP). These places have tens of thousands of clients, who will be buying your photos from them, without any financial gain for you. Your photos will be reproduced by numerous outlets credited only AFP/Getty/AP, without crediting you. AFP/Getty/AP will claim that they have no control over this - while this may be true, it will not help ease your feeling that very bad things should happen to these people. Giving your photos to one of these agencies will mark the end of your control over your photos - BEWARE.
10.Do not be impressed or intimidated by your unauthorized content showing up in prominent places - get on the phone or send them an email and make sure they remove your content or pay your for it - or both. The following outlets are among the numerous places that abused the content of this blog: NYTimes.com, CBS News, New York Post, The Independent (UK), Le Figaro (France), and USA Today. I AM NOT IMPRESSED.
Anyone got anything else to add?
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Good post - I believe she is very right with all of the points !
Going viral maybe sometimes comes as a surprise - nobody knows when it will happen>
