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online persona

Online Persona; Who’s Really Behind the Screen?

Online Persona~ What does that even mean? What does your online persona say about you? Does online persona mean that we are not who we say we are? Does it mean that we are like the great and powerful Oz and we sit behind the cloak of our computer screens and pretend to be someone or something that we are not? Or is online persona simply a version of ourselves that we feel safer sharing with the world at large? For me, my online persona is ME…magnified.  You can ask anyone who has met me in real life, I am just as loud and opinionated in real life as I am on the internet but I am also as caring and loving.

Of course, I am also quiet and subdued when you first meet me. After all, I am a lady not some rodeo circus clown just spouting silliness to make the world laugh. I am also very passionate and I love my friends and family in a big way. The way I love my readers on here in a big way. You, boys and girls, are my tribe. You know most of my deepest and darkest secrets and you’ve seen me at my best and worst. Hell, you know things about me that not even some of the people who know me in real life know about me. I feel safe with you. This is one of the great things about blogging; my online village.

Online Persona; Who are We Really?

Then again there is a not so great part and that is the part where a writer can be taken out of context, misinterpreted or scrutinized. One post taken out of context can seem barbaric to a first time reader but if you knew me, you’d know that it was just vulnerability ( because I feel safe enough with you to be myself transparently). Writing online is like moving into a community, meeting your neighbors and making friends. You grow together, you know one another’s stories and you support one another.

But if you write at a new venue or someone comes to your blog for the first time, you are the new guy again. Of course, if they have found your blog, they are technically in your house. If they found you at a new venue, it’s something different  entirely. You’ve just moved into an entirely different part of the online universe, some place across the online world and nobody knows you. If you go in and act like you own the place with your bold and loud antics, you may turn some off. After all, these new neighbors haven’t had years to find you endearing. To them, you may be like damn sandpaper. Really loud and obnoxious sandpaper. You might be taken out of context. Hell, when you speak to them about Throat Punching, they may take offense and not know that you are trying to right the wrongs in the universe. They may think that you are a judgmental asshole because you are new and they don’t know you. Keep that in mind the next time you read a new blogger, maybe they are not so bad. Maybe you’ve only taken them out of context or they were having a bad day. Remember a blog post is just a snippet, a moment out of a lifetime.

What do you do? You want to be yourself and be transparent but you also don’t want people to want to lynch you for being taken out of context. How do you make your online persona reflect the person you truly are without leaving yourself open to being attacked for being YOURSELF?

What do you want your online persona to say about you?

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Privacy

Privacy

Online Privacy, what’s enough?

Privacy Please. Blogging is very personal. When I started blogging, it was 1) to exercise my writing muscles 2) to keep a memory book of my children growing up and this time in our life. I never even took privacy into consideration. I just assumed I was writing, on my computer, and that was where it was staying…like writing in my diary as a teenager, but without the paper.

I took the online name Truthful Mommy because I knew I wanted to be honest and by operating under a pseudonym, I could do that with a bit more ease. I wasn’t really too concerned about what I was going to write as much as I was concerned about who might find me by using my birth name; high school friends, people who hate me, people I know in real life who don’t know me as well as they might if they read my blog. People who were in Junior League with me, or on the school board or some of the Mom’s groups I was involved in at the time. I didn’t really want to hand them my diary.

I wanted the freedom to express myself and the safety of a space where I could be true to the process. I didn’t want to be censored because, honestly, censoring your journals is lying to yourself about your history.Besides, doesn’t old age muddle the truth enough as it is; sundowners is a bitch and I know I won’t remember everything exactly as it happened when I’m 87. I didn’t want my children to one day read a lie. I wanted to be able one day to give them access to my blog and let them know that we have all been there. I wanted that connection. I want them to know that we are united as women and as mothers and I understand everything they are going through. I wasn’t thinking of privacy.

I write honestly, irreverently and occasionally in a very raw manner. I find that, to this day still, I only want people that I don’t know in real life at all or that I know in real life but VERY well to read my blog. All the acquaintances and people I know from school, church, the local moms groups…I don’t want them to ever find me online. Ever. Father would be quite disappointed to know just how bad my potty mouth is. Yet, I started using my real name because I wanted to start working as a freelance writer and it just seemed more professional.

My community grew from a handful of family members and friends in the last couple of years to an audience that is growing by the day upwards of 50,000+ if you include my blog page views, subscribers, GFC, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, Aiming Low, Smart Mom Style and the Stir.

How much of your privacy are you willing to forfeit?

I still write uncensored. I have to. This is my mission. My blog is called The TRUTH about Motherhood not I’m going to blow sunshine and unicorns up your ass about Motherhood. My honesty has gotten me some trolls to be sure. Not everyone will agree with me, nor do I expect or want them to. Variety is the spice of life and I like life spicy. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that seeing my numbers rise, getting the feedback and having received my fair share of hate mail, it has made me rethink some things.

For example, do you use your children’s photos in your blog? I used to have the pages of my blog filled with my girls’ photos and then I realized that when people don’t like what you say, they will take shots to hurt you wherever that might be. I can’t take that chance. So, there are seldom ever any recent photos of my girls on my blog anymore. It had to become, at least a little bit, about protecting the family on the web.

I used to use names of people that I knew (I know, this is blogging 101 but I had no idea). I don’t do that anymore. I’ve never used my husband’s name, nor talked about the place I work. I don’t talk about where I live. You’ll never catch me on Foursquare because I don’t want to give people a road map to come stab me.

I’m just wondering, what do you do to maintain your privacy online? It feels so personal that sometimes you forget that you are talking to the entire world and you never really know who’s listening. It could be someone who will give you the next greatest opportunity of your life or it could be the next Ted Bundy.

We really never know who is sitting behind the screen talking to us because we are all anonymous online. Next time you tweet, update your status on FB or write a blog post, just remember that your boss could be reading it. Your mortal enemy could be reading it. Your best friend. The mean mom from yoga class. The guy whose heart you broke in 9th grade. Your priest could be reading it.

Why did you start blogging? How much of yourself are you willing to give away? Where do you draw the line in what you publish? How do you protect your privacy online.

I will talk more about ways to protect your privacy online in a follow up post about blogging.

Privacy, how many of us have any?

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money, sponsored post, how much to charge

How much to charge for a sponsored post? That is the question all bloggers struggle with, even lose sleep over. No one wants to be shortchanged or work for free. I know I don’t but how much to charge for a sponsored post is a hard question to answer.

I could ask you to first ask yourself, what do you think your talent is worth? How about your time? Time away from your family? Your social media influence? Your community?

Are you a wordsmith whose words cast a magical spell over your readers? Are you a humorist who can make people laugh at and enjoy reading about absolutely any topic? Do your words tug at heartstrings and illicit empathy and understanding, camaraderie? Are you a salesman who can weave a web of silk and turn any piece of shit into shinola with your turn of phrase? Or are you a press release regurgitator? It’s no matter; there is a place for all of us.

I read an article last week by Cecily Kellogg on MomCrunch that enlightened me and shed some light on the age old question, how much to charge for a sponsored post?
This is the simple formula that she came up with. I say simple because when I read it I thought to myself, wow that makes sense. But not simple in the fact that I would have ever figured it out had it not been for Cecily’s generosity in posting the piece.

Here it is.

How much to charge for a sponsored post:

Algorithm                                                                                                    Example
Number of total Monthly page views                                                    100,000
(Add to that) Your total Number of Twitter Followers                      10,000 = 110,000
(Divide that total by)Your Google Page Rank                                      3 = 37,778
(Multiply that total by .01)                                                                       37,778 * .01 = 378
Divide the entire total by 2                                                                       378/2

= How much to charge for a sponsored post                                                 $189.00

**If your Google page rank is higher than 5, this algorithm will not work out in your favor. I personally decided that when calculating my rate of how much to charge for a sponsored post, I would skip the multiply by .01 step. If this were the case in the example, the pay for the blogger would be about $380 per sponsored post rather than  the $189. I think if you have 100,000 page views per month and 10,000 Twitter followers, you would charge somewhere around of $200- $300 per post. The more influential the blogger, the more you can charge for a sponsored post.

In my case, I now charge between $100-$300 per sponsored post. Add to that another $50-$100 for a widget in the sidebar, per month. My rates of how much to charge for a sponsored post have recently gone up. Of course, this all depends on my relationship with the brand. These are all things to consider when deciding whether or not to even take a sponsored post.

I can’t tell you what I would charge for text links because I simply refuse to do them. I feel it will litter my blog and make it a commercial. I hate commercials. That is my philosophy for my own blog.

I also don’t let companies post press releases on my blog for pay. I can’t be a billboard or I would probably lose my readers. I can’t take that gamble. I’ve been building my reputation and this blog for almost 3 years; I can’t just give away my relationship with my community. It’s priceless.

Never ever work with a brand that you don’t genuinely support. If you are a vegetarian, don’t take a sponsored post from the National Pork board. Your readers will figure out that you are selling them a product that you, yourself, would not use and you will lose any and all integrity that you had. You will lose your authenticity. You cannot get that back. Keep that in mind.

Something else, in my opinion, that all bloggers absolutely need to be equipped with is a media kit. If you ever want to justify your rates, solicit sponsorships, or just demonstrate to brands why they should work with you over any of a million other bloggers, you need a media kit. It lists your stats and a quick blog bio in a handy easy to access format. Your media kit is your online business card and resume.

Start by making sure that you have a Google Analytics account and, my personal recommendation, a statcounter.com account. This was a piece of invaluable piece of advice given to me by blogging diva, Jessica Gottlieb and she should know.I listened. I’m glad I did. I suggest that you do the same. Armed with your stats, you can make an awesome media kit to wow even the most selective brands. I have compiled a very comprehensive how to write a media kit for your blog post that I urge you to take advantage of now.

Lifting the Veil on Making Money in Blogging is a collaborative effort among several bloggers that aims to address questions surrounding the monetizing issue in an attempt to shed some light on what is often treated as a very taboo aspect of blogging; it seems everyone wonders how to do it, yet no one really talks about it. Until now. There are as many ways to earn money blogging as to blog so check out the other bloggers participating in Lifting the Veil On Making Money In Blogging:

Check these amazing posts out. This is a great group of generous bloggers, who have learned a lot along the way. We just want to help other bloggers learn to navigate the monetization of their blog and demystify some of the biggest secrets of blogging. Hope this post helps you know how much to charge for a sponsored post and how to write a media kit.

How much to charge for a sponsored post

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media kit, how to write a media kit

What Do You want Your Media Kit to Say about You?

media kit, how to write a media kit

How to write Media Kit for your Blog ~ We all want to know where to begin when writing our media kit but it’s one of those secrets of the trade that no one wants to share. On the rare occasion that someone actually gives you feedback, it’s cryptic and vague. I am here to decode it for you.I figured since I already spilled the beans on how to write a Mommy blog and how to navigate Twitter, the next logical step is how to write a media kit for your blog. Above is a screenshot of my current media kit. There are two pages in total. This is page one.I came up with my media kit by doing lots of research on the internet, consulting other ( more experienced) bloggers to look it over and having those people who actually receive sponsorship proposals to give me their honest feedback. I hope this post is helpful to you. If it is, don’t be stingy pass it on to your fellow bloggers and leave me a comment with any questions or suggestions that you might have.

  •  Contact information. For the love of God, make it easy for companies to contact you via your media kit, your blog, etc. If you don’t, do not be surprised when no one contacts you. You can’t pitch companies to work with you or to sponsor you to conferences if you are not even professional enough to make yourself easily accessible on your blog and media kit. They want to know that if they need to reach you, they can. Make it easy. Be accessible.
  • Your blog the Brand. Your blog is a representation of you. Your media kit should reflect your blog’s brand. What message are you trying to send? I would advise using the same color scheme and graphics that emphasize your brand. If someone is familiar with your blog, there should be no mistaking that your media kit is for your blog. I even include a screen shot of my blog within my media kit. Same color scheme, same theme across the board…blog, media kit, business cards, Facebook landing page, Twitter background.
  •  The Right Pitch. An elevator pitch is a short, concise explanation of what you do. What is your blog about? The TRUTH about Motherhood is  a brutally honest, laugh out loud funny, raw account of navigating this new lifestyle that we Mommies find ourselves drowning in after having children. It’s what happens after the “They all live happily ever after” takes place.

Your Media Kit is Your Online Introduction

  •  What’s Your niche? What’s a Niche? Where do you fit into the grand scheme of your niche? Ask not what the company can do for you but what your blog can do for the company. After you’ve stated your elevator pitch, you can now give an explanation of your blog’s niche (Mommy Blog) , why you are an important part of that niche ( I’ve spent the past three years blogging, building my brand and growing my community), and why you are a good fit with a potential vendor or PR representative ( because I am well respected and known. I am trusted and people know me via my blog. I’m more than a nameless face behind a computer. I have laughed and cried with my community. We’ve consoled one another,cheered one another on and helped one another through difficult wins and losses. We are friends). This is the place to sell your brand. What makes you a better fit than the next blogger? What can you do that is unique?
  • Statistics. When discussing traffic statistics, include the following; total monthly page views, uniques, feed subscribers, new visitors, pages per visit and time on site. I also include my social media reach. This includes my Twitter followers, Klout score ( though after they reconfigured the algorithm, Klout has killed everyone’s score), Facebook Friends/ Fans, Google Page rank and Alexa Traffic. Definitely include your social media reach because even if you only have 300 blog followers but you have 10,000 Twitter followers or 3000 Facebook fans, your reach is far wider than you might think. If you have it, provide a link to your portfolio so potential partners can see that you are diverse and that you reach is even greater. Don’t hide your light under a bushel. Be loud and proud but not obnoxious.
  • Just how influential are you, really? If you don’t feel like your statistics are as high as you would like them to be, focus on your influence and how you reach a specific audience. Include your demographics, especially if your key demographic reflects that of the company you are trying to work with. Your influence isn’t just online. Do you have a large circle of people who you influence in real life? Are you active at your child’s school? Church? The Junior League? Any social groups? Also include awards you’ve received that are relevant to your influence. This exemplifies your reach. Mention it.
  • Advertising Guidelines and Pricing. I don’t put cost information in my media kit but rather have them contact me directly for more information. If you are going to provide specifics, I recommend; What sizes of advertising will you offer (e.g., 125×125, 120×600)? How much does each size ad cost for a week? A month? A year? Will you give discounts for clients who book advertising over several months time? I also provide a laundry list of different ways that we can work together; i.e.

media kit

If this was helpful, please share it and since GFC is abandoning us Wordpress blogs in March please consider subscribing via RSS or email.Give the company no excuse to not work with you. Make yourself available and irresistible. If you only have one chance to make a first impression and everyone judges a book by it’s cover, let your media kit be the right cover on the book of your blog.

Let Your Media Kit Make a Statement

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vintage shopping, crushworthy moms, fashionhunters, Alison Kleinert, Karina Lepiner, BRavo

Vintage shopping,Crushworthymoms,Alison Kleinert, Fashion Haul Friday, Fashion Friday, Fashionable drinks

Vintage Shopping

Vintage Shopping with the most Crushworthy moms ~Today, I am honored to have the very awesome and super fabulous Fashionistas, Alison  and Karina (She turned this into a job by working at Second Time Around and starring in Bravo’s “Fashion Hunters”) of CrushworthyMoms.com guest posting on Fashion Friday.  You are in for a treat if you aren’t already familiar with these ladies. Alison and Karina are super fashionable, totally crushworthy and just happen to be vintage shopping queens. This is something that I have been wanting to learn how to do, as I am obsessed with Zooey Deschanel’s wardrobe on the New Girl but ‘m not a time traveler, nor do I have the budget of Zooey Deschanel’s costume designer. I do, however, have a few pieces of vintage royalty of my mom’s that I have rescued ( on more than one occasion) from ending up at the Goodwill and I want more. Lot’s more. Luckily for me, I have a gal ( or two) who is an expert, Alison and Karina. This is a new way to shop. It’s green, it’s affordable and it’s a good way to have a unique look and a one of a kind style. I’ll let Alison  and Karina explain, they’re the experts. Go check them out at Crushworthymoms.com and for great conversation you can find Alison and Karina, tweeting @Crushworthymoms.

Vintage Shopping,Crushworthymoms.com, Alison Kleinert,Karina Lepiner, Fashion Hunters, Second time around

Crushworthy Moms take us Vintage Shopping

Let us introduce ourselves, we are Alison and Karina of Crushworthymoms and we have a confession.  We are addicted to shopping at consignment stores.  So addicted in fact that we both work at STA (Second Time Around) in Manhattan to support our habit and get first dibs at the merchandise.  Karina even starred in Bravo’s Fashion Hunters, a show that is about consignment shopping and the art of the hunt.  We get a rush combing the racks in the hopes of finding that perfect piece that our wardrobe is missing.

So when @Truthfulmommy asked us to do a fashion post (Oh all right, we asked to do a fashion post!) we wanted to make sure we had her style just right.  So when she showed her appreciation for the style of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) from Fox’s New Girl, we knew we could incorporate our love of consignment shopping to find the perfect Jess-inspired outfits for our post.

When you shop consignment you have to go into the store with an open mind and have the time to go through each piece of clothing.  It is all about patience and enjoying the hunt.  You might find a one of a kind piece that you might never have thought you would have liked.  Your clothes should make you stand out not blend in and look like everyone else.  Your clothes should be a reflection of your personality and that is why people are so enamored with Jess’s style beause she wears what she loves.  I guarantee you will find your favorite pieces in a consignment store because they will be conversation starters and not just clothes you bought in a department store.

Now on to the clothes (Disclaimer-We shopped at STA’s annual 50% off sale-Prices were extra LOW):

How can you dress like Jess or Zooey?

Just add a bow to your outfit!

vintage shopping, fashion hunters, second time around, Karina Lepiner, Alison Kleinert

Shoes by Marc Jacob $35

Shirt by Misty $25

Jess’s Day to Evening Look

vinatge shopping, fashion hunters, Karina Lepiner, Alison Kleinert, Crushworthy Moms

 Striped dress by Alice and Olivia $85

Marc Jacobs jacket $35

Trina Turk star dress $35

 Green Manolo Blahnik $100

Yellow Dolce and Gabbana $45

Jess’s Evening Look

vintage shopping, crushworthy moms, fashionhunters, Alison Kleinert, Karina Lepiner, BRavo

Jacket by DVF $125

Sparkly dress by Robert Rodriguez $100

Green bow dress by Zac Posen $375

Gold boots by United Nude $60

Silver heels by Sergio Rossi $110

Vintage Shopping at consignment shops is an art form, as shown by the finds Alison and Karina shared here. Thanks so much for guest posting and sharing your skills, ladies.  Lesson #1, you can’t be afraid to get a little dirty and invest a little time into your vintage shopping excursions. I can’t wait to hit my local vintage shop and see what gems in the rough I find from a time gone by. Seems like with a little effort, you can find a treasure trove of vintage shopping gold!

 Vintage Shopping at it’s Best

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Social media, twitter, flickr, facebook, social networks

Social Media ~ I have noticed lately that there are a lot of big brands and companies out there who obviously do not fully comprehend the breadth and width of the social media reach. They’ve not been given the  social media handbook ( because it doesn’t exist) or they didn’t read it, at the very least they don’t understand the etiquette. It takes practice to make perfect when it comes to social media. No one, not one of us, on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, Summify, About,Technorati, Myspace, Google+, Linkedin want to be shouted, preached at or commercial-ed to death. We don’t respond well to SoapBox media. This applies to individuals and brands. It’s social media 101, you have to be engaged to engage others. Big Brands are not the almighty OZ and we, the people, already have a brain. At the epicenter of all this engagement needs to be a person (a real life person) making real life relationships and having real conversations.THAT is how social media works.

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Social media, twitter, flickr, facebook, social networks

Photo Mirnabard.com

Social Media Experiment

This morning, my husband asked me to tweet out a simple request that people vote for Midmark Corporation to win the Dayton Journal Brand Madness competition. I’m not even sure what exactly they win aside from bragging rights but I love a challenge. When he asked me this, of course I obliged. When he asked me to do the tweet, the percentages were 6% for Midmark and 94% for the competition. Within in an hour, the odds were at 46% Midmark and 54% for the competition. Now, I’m not saying my tweets and FB requests of my followers did all of that but I think it’s too much to be called a coincidence. I think social media was working in Midmark’s favor. I did some research and on Twitter I have a little over 3200 tweeps that I tweet with on a daily basis. People that I engage and interact with and have real conversations. Each of them have anywhere from 100 followers to 200,000 followers. This increases my reach exponentially. Factor in the fact that they support me and vote or publicized the competition because I asked, it appeared on their walls and in their Twitter streams, and the reach is even larger. Midmark however has 374 people who follow on twitter. They do not engage actively every day and from what I saw, most of it is of the SoapBox variety. Tweeting out once every few weeks usually something that only other employees would be interested in reading. I have 900 total followers on Facebook  and Midmark has 180. I am by no means a giant in the social media field but I I know what I am doing. The fact is that my social media reach is greater than this multimillion dollar company. Doesn’t that seem weird? Well, it shouldn’t because it proves my point that people respond to PEOPLE not auto tweets, auto DMS, spam and certainly not Soap Box Media.

Social Media Wins Again

This is not Midmark’s fault. I love Midmark but it proves a point that no one teaches social media. It’s still too new and ever changing. It’s like parenting. You learn as you go and then you are able to use your wisdom to do better. I would like to demonstrate this for Midmark that they need a specifically social media savvy type person to handle their social media. They need someone who understands all that social media entails. It’s social media not Soapbox media, to get the most out of it you have to engage and be social. A publicity blast will yield no return or at least not the kind you might want. Anyone, brand or person, who just tweets one-sided and does not engage in actual conversation will not get the full benefit of social media.I don’t usually ask for votes for anything but I really want to prove that social media reach is strong and there is value in people who employ the skills to effectively navigate social media. Please help me to help Midmark win this branding competition by clicking on this link and voting for Midmark. It will only take a second. If you rally want to let the big companies know that we individuals with  social media savvy backgrounds are the way to promote their companies than add a comment after voting for Midmark letting them know that TruthfulMommy sent you. If it makes you feel any better, Midmark truly is an outstanding corporation who actually deserves to win. Voting is open until midnight tonight eastern standard time. They just don’t have the social media know how to let people know they are even in the running. Maybe I can prove the need for a Social Media guru. Thank you all so much for taking a second to vote. I promise it is a click on the link and then a click on the vote for Midmark. There are no forms to fill out. These big companies need to realize the value of social media and that it takes more than just a business degree and a few publicity blasts to grow your social media image. Help me prove that for social media to be effective, it takes people, like you and I, who sit at a computer, form relationships and hold conversations.

Social Media Savvy Wins

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Chicago, Facebook Live, Throat Punch Thursday,Brittany Herring, Hate Crime, Donald Trump

Throat Punch Thursday~ Intellectual Property Plagiarism

Intellectual Property Plagiarism ~ This one is personal. You all know how I feel about being plagiarized. I think we can all agree that plagiarizing sucks. I’m not some Pulitzer prize winning writer, I talk about a lot of crazy off the wall shit and it’s not normally popular opinion or written in the usual rainbows and unicorns fashion, so when you plagiarize my intellectual property…it doesn’t take me too long to figure it out. Not to mention that I have taken some pretty extensive steps to catch plagiarist. Oh yeah, I’ve got my blog boobie trapped assholes. I’ve even written entire posts about how to catch a plagiarist and stop them from plagiarizing you.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism Not a Victimless Crime

I don’t think that some people understand that I have ownership over my blog posts because I author them and when they take them without my consent and without acknowledging me as the true author, they are stealing. I don’t adhere to the adage that Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It’s not. The sincerest form of flattery to a writer is to pay her for her writing. When someone copies my thoughts, ideas, words and actions; when someone tries to be who I am by using my mission, my formula, my title and name…that is plagiarism and it pisses me off. It seems the more traffic I get, the more well known my blog becomes the more likely people are to try and hitch their wagon to my star. I’m not saying that there is anything special about what I do but it’s mine. It’s me! I feel like these plagiarists are turning all Single white female on me. It is literally happening almost on a daily basis at this point.I’ve written so many cease and desist letters that the formula is tattooed on my brain.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism is Real & punishable by Law

This latest case of intellectual property plagiarism is what has my panties in a bunch today. Earlier this week, as I was perusing Facebook I stumbled on a Community page using my blog name The TRUTH about Motherhood. Did you even know that this was possible? Can you say blatant intellectual property plagiarism? This piqued my curiosity. I may not be a Dooce or Jessica Gottlieb but I’ve been around long enough for a substantial amount of bloggers to know who the hell I am. It always gives me a little knot in my stomach when I ever see my title used or very close to it because then I have to check it out to see what else it has in common with me. Imagine my reaction when I was reading the description of the page and it read;

Witty, honest look at Motherhood from the trenches. The agony and the ecstasy of being a Mother, from pregnancy, through labor and delivery, to bringing the first baby home and to infinity and beyond. Where other mothers pretend to be Bree Van de Kamp,Truthful Mommy lets it all out there for the world to see. If 30’s the new 20, then imperfect parenting is the new perfect.

I was trying to place the words. I went back through my posts and I saw bits and pieces here and there but not the exact quote.But I knew it had been said. I knew it was something I had said. Then I remembered, it is the verbatim description of my blog on the Babble top Mom blogger nominations. My head was spinning. Then I realized that they had labeled the page Community. To me, that infers that they are the community page for The TRUTH about Motherhood website ( which they are not) especially since they had the balls to use my exact description of my blog and even refer to TruthfulMommy( ME). I contacted them and they refused to answer and removed my comment from their wall. I reported them to FB for intellectual property infringement and they were forced to remove the description. Some of my followers also told me that they reported the page for being a duplicate. I think that since they refer to themselves as the community of The TRUTH abut Motherhood it is still under the guise of being associated with my site and should be forced to change their name, as well. We will see what Facebook does about the situation. I have made my feelings clear. I hope they have to change it or remove it in it’s entirety. This is just one more instance in a long list of times that someone has stolen my brand.

Intellectual Property Plagiarism Parasites

Today, I am throat punching the hell out of PLAGIARIZING PARASITES. I make no bones about it, if you are copying someone else’s thoughts/actions/words give them the acknowledgment and link back, at the very least try to do so. I will not tolerate this anymore. If I find out that you are plagiarizing my intellectual property, I will go through the proper channels and I will take you down.

Hope you will link up your Throat Punch Thursday posts with me. All you have to do is grab the Throat Punch Thursday button ( listed under the buttons tab at the top of the page), put it in your blog post and link up. If you’d like to stay in the Throat Punch know, I’d love it if you would email subscribe ( as GFC will stop working soon).

*Just checked and the FB page for the “community” calling themselves The TRUTH about Motherhood has been taken down! FTW! Thank you FB for having some integrity.

Have you ever been plagiarized? What did you do? Did you go after the plagiarist assholes who stole your property? Did you give them a throat punch? We need to keep an eye out for one another and let one another know if we come across one anothers material on sites not belonging to the original writer. We are bloggers hear us roar ( right before we throat punch your ass)! Fellow bloggers, let plagiarists know that intellectual property plagiarism will no longer be tolerated by any of us.

 

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