WyethDigital
Oct 23rd, 2006, 09:46 PM
I had an interesting thing happen today. I got a message through YouTube from a self-professed internet marketer claiming to have done me a huge favor by setting up a YouTube channel featuring our videos.
That sounds great, except for a couple of things:
• He* set himself up as... us!
• actually edited our videos!
• He impersonated our host!
• He even cloned the look of our Myspace page, (http://www.myspace.com/madithehowtogirl) right down to the background!
•ÂÂ*We already have a presence on YouTube! (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WyethDigital)
* May not actually be a "he."
Now, I think this person was sincere in their desire to help us out, but we're getting a lot of exposure right now and we have to protect our interests. Part of that is making sure that when someone leaves a comment for us, they know that's who they're talking to. We are also bound by law to protect our property if we hope to retain the rights to it and make some money off of it. Having two of "us" out there only serves to dilute our brand.
What was my solution? After batting it around a bit with Madeline, we decided to send a polite but firm email to the person and explain our concerns. Since they also left us a password to the YouTube profile, I went on and personally removed everything that could cause confusion to a casual visitor. I took down the videos, the backgrounds, the bio, the pics. Then I posted a bulletin explaining the "misunderstanding" and pointed them to our REAL presence on YouTube. I didn't call the other person names, or scold them too much. Just listed some concerns and that this was a mutual attempt to make it right.
Hope I handled that well!
Hey, does it mean you're getting famous when you have a cyber-squatter? :D
Eric
That sounds great, except for a couple of things:
• He* set himself up as... us!
• actually edited our videos!
• He impersonated our host!
• He even cloned the look of our Myspace page, (http://www.myspace.com/madithehowtogirl) right down to the background!
•ÂÂ*We already have a presence on YouTube! (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WyethDigital)
* May not actually be a "he."
Now, I think this person was sincere in their desire to help us out, but we're getting a lot of exposure right now and we have to protect our interests. Part of that is making sure that when someone leaves a comment for us, they know that's who they're talking to. We are also bound by law to protect our property if we hope to retain the rights to it and make some money off of it. Having two of "us" out there only serves to dilute our brand.
What was my solution? After batting it around a bit with Madeline, we decided to send a polite but firm email to the person and explain our concerns. Since they also left us a password to the YouTube profile, I went on and personally removed everything that could cause confusion to a casual visitor. I took down the videos, the backgrounds, the bio, the pics. Then I posted a bulletin explaining the "misunderstanding" and pointed them to our REAL presence on YouTube. I didn't call the other person names, or scold them too much. Just listed some concerns and that this was a mutual attempt to make it right.
Hope I handled that well!
Hey, does it mean you're getting famous when you have a cyber-squatter? :D
Eric