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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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