Q&A: Is It OK To Use AI Art For Profile / Creator Pictures?

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by  James McAllister

Context: A new content creator wants to start publishing content online, as anonymously as possible. This includes a pen name, and a non-identifiable backstory. One thing they’re stuck on is a photo of themselves, which is important to build connection with their audience. They’re wondering if it’s alright to use AI to generate a profile photo to use on their social media pages, and author bio.

Answer:

There are a few things to consider, before doing this – at least in my opinion.

Personally, I don’t see anything morally or ethically wrong with it. It’s no different than using a stock photo, which content creators have been doing since the web 1.0 days back in the 90’s. In fact, it’s even more ethical in my opinion, because you’re not using the actual picture of someone else.

(Though, keep in mind that AI photos are not copyrightable, which means technically other people would be allowed to use the same picture.)

Some might say this is misleading to a potential audience, but I see it as relatively harmless. Most people would understand if you explained your decision to do so, as we can empathize with your desire to remain anonymous.

That being said, there are business implications.

Most notably, it is quite restrictive for you in the future.

If you use a pen name, there is no reason you can’t carry that same pen name with you to the grave. As soon as you create a fake image of yourself to use however, you’re kind of stuck with it forever.

Yes, you can generate a new photo in 5 years that is similar and looks older, but unless you really are careful, the two people won’t look similar enough to pass off as the same person. Someone who is suspicious may notice.

Additionally, just because you wish to remain anonymous right now, does not necessarily mean you’ll feel the same way in the future.

If you want to suddenly start doing video in the future – something I really recommend to creators due to its ability to build trust and recognition more than any other content medium, you’ll have problems.

After all, imagine if someone had an image of you in their head for years, and all of a sudden you did a video where you look completely different!

In conclusion, it’s legal, and I don’t personally believe it’s unethical. However, it may not be the best business decision for the long-term.

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Q&A: Someone Is Stealing My Content? What Should I Do?

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by  James McAllister

If you find out that somebody has been stealing and reuploading your blog posts or YouTube videos without permission, don’t fret!

Although this can be incredibly alarming to see, it isn’t necessarily a big deal.

So, what should you do?

First, determine whether or not this is actually a problem. If the website or video isn’t ranking above or near yours, chances are you aren’t actually losing any traffic to this person. Google is pretty good at filtering out duplicate / stolen content, so most of the time it shouldn’t matter as long as your content is being properly indexed.

The truth is, most notable sites have their content scraped and reuploaded automatically. Your content has probably already been reuploaded dozens of times, you just haven’t noticed it.

If you’re not losing traffic, just ignore it.

IF it is having a business impact however, I recommend taking the following set of actions:

  1. Contact the website owner. Notify them that they’ve plagiarized your content, and kindly ask them to remove it. Sometimes, this may have been done without them even knowing it (for example, by a new writer who tried to scam the employer by claiming the content they published was original.)”
  2. Report copyright infringement to Google through this form here. It’s a little lengthy to fill out, but a real person from Google will review it and potentially deindex the other website from Google search results. Note that the other party has the opportunity to file a DMCA counter-notice.
  3. File a DMCA notice with their webhost. You can find out their web host by visiting hostingchecker.com. Again, they have the opportunity to file a DMCA counter notice. When this happens, you have to immediately file suit against them. A lot of people know you won’t bother getting legally involved, so the content gets restored. Additionally, some web hosts, especially those based in certain countries in Europe, do not honor DMCA requests, which is why piracy is so rampant on the internet.

If filing a DMCA didn’t work, and the person also hotlinked your images – meaning they are loading them from your server, you can change these on your local server if you wish.

I’ve heard of people changing the pictures to giant banners stating that the website stole your content. This can be done by uploading a new picture with the same name in your servers files, and then renaming the one you actually use in your blog posts.

Of course, if you’ve already filed a DMCA, they’ll already be on to you, and might look out for antics like this.

If you’ve filed a DMCA and it wasn’t honored or they filed a DMCA counter notice, there isn’t much you can do outside of hiring a specialist or actually file suit.

Personally, I find it a better use of your time to continue building yourself up, instead of focusing on competitors – even scummy thieves.

– James McAllister

 

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Q&A: When Is It Okay To Create Content On Multiple Topics?

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by  James McAllister

Context: The asker is interested in a wide variety of topics, and wants to know if it’s okay to publish them as long as they keep them in separate sections of their website, or creates separate YouTube channels for them.

Answer:

This always comes down to a fundamental question you have to ask yourself: Who is the underlying audience you’re trying to serve – and would the content still be applicable to them?

The truth is, it’s never about niches. It’s always about the person you’re trying to serve with your content.

Take a guitar player for example. Even if you started out publishing content about how to play the guitar, there is a whole myriad of other topics this person would also be interested in. For example:

  • Recording
  • Songwriting
  • Performing on stage
  • Starting a band
  • Producing an album
  • Marketing (if they do live shows)
  • Mixing / mastering

…and a whole lot more!

The thing is, each one of these could be there own niche. But, producing content on these topics would still be both relevant and valuable to someone learning guitar – especially once they’ve gone beyond the beginner stage.

This is why instead of thinking in terms of choosing a niche, it’s better to think in terms of what sort of person you want to serve.

That being said, there are a few issues with publishing content in multiple niches. Notably…

  1. You will lose SOME people. If you only ever publish on the same topic, you can be sure everyone will be interested. As soon as you add other content into the mix, at least a small portion of your audience won’t be interested in it – or at least, not interested in hearing it from YOU. They may prefer the same content delivered from someone they deem to be more of an expert in that specific area.
  2. Google may not rank your site as highly if you publish on many different topics, as they deem you less of an authority in them. This is only an issue if you rely on Google for your traffic.

In my course, The Creator Success System, I recommend creators start out by focusing very niche, so people will start binging all of the content you have available.

However, you can certainly branch out over time, as long as you’re serving the same audience!

Of course, if you aren’t creating content for money or views, it doesn’t really matter, and you should just do whatever brings you the most personal fulfillment.

– James McAllister

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Q&A: Is Sharing My Posts On Social Media Considered ‘Duplicate Content?’

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by  James McAllister

Context: The asker wants to copy the blog post that they’ve written, and publish it on social media to increase exposure.

Answer:

Thankfully, I’m happy to share that this is not an issue.

However, it’s probably not that great of an idea either.

Here’s why – it’s important that the content you’re publishing is actually a good fit for the platform that you’re trying to publish on.

Although Twitter / X now allows you to write tweets that are 10,000 characters long, the reality is that nobody wants to read an entire blog post on social media. Put quite simply, this is not what people came to the platform for, so it’s going to be glanced over and not have as powerful of an effect as it could have.

Instead, I recommend repurposing the content, so it is contextual to each platform.

For example, instead of copying and pasting your entire blog post or article, instead determine the key points of the article. This can be made into a long-form tweet, simply outlining the main things that you want people to know.

That same tweet can make the basis for a short-form video, that can be published on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts.

This allows you to publish the same content across 5 platforms instead of 1, without taking a bunch of extra time to produce.

Best of all, if your goal is to get blog article reads, simply link to your blog article for people that want to learn more!

So no, even if you copy and paste the content, it won’t be considered duplicate (though to be safe, wait for your blog post to be indexed and show up in Google search before publishing it elsewhere.)

– James McAllister

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FIXED: Facebook – The Account That Owns The Email Address You Entered Has Been Disabled

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by  James McAllister

Are you trying to sign into Facebook, but are receiving the following error?

“The account that owns the email address you entered has been disabled.”

This error can be frustrating to experience, especially if you aren’t sure why it’s appearing, or what you can do to fix it.

Thankfully, both the cause and solution are rather straightforward. So, in this article, I’ll be showing you how to solve it for good!

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