It's the beginning of a new year in real estate and the gurus of the industry are trolling for your dollars. Though there are some terrific third party practitioners, there are also those whose advice could costs you thousands of dollars if you follow it.
This week I listened to a presentation from one of the gurus in the later category. They were suggesting a REALTOR® violate US Copyright law by taking other people's photos, removing any links or attribution from the original source and post them to Pinterest with a link to your own website.
To be honest I had to listen to the video a couple of times to make sure I was hearing what they were suggesting correctly. Years of reading Lenn Harley's posts have educated most of us Active Rain old timers on US Copyright law but there are far to many who still believe "if I find it on the Internet" it's fair game.
Fortunately my exchange with this "guru" in a Facebook group ended up with their agreeing to take the video down and update their advice. The problem is based on the number of shares that had already happened on their website that the damage has been done. Hopefully a letter from Getty Images demanding payment for the use of a photo isn't in their future.
Before you blindly jump on the bandwagon of the latest and greatest business builder for 2016 take a pause. Do your own research and verification. If it involves advertising check with your Broker or association first. It's going to be a great year in real estate if you don't end up in REALTOR® jail first.
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