Sharing is Caring {Most of the Time}

As a primarily food blogger, I want the links to my recipes and photos shared and then re-shared and pin and then repinned... over, and over, and over. ;) And I want to say a big thank you to each and every one of you who has been spreading the word about my little food blog here and has been sharing your favorite Frugal Foodie Mama recipes with your friends and family.  In the blogging world, your all's word of mouth is blogger gold.  

But recently, there has been a rash of certain individuals starting blogs and Facebook pages as what they like to describe as collections of the best of online recipes.  And that is all fine and dandy... as long as credit is given where credit is due.  But sadly that hasn't always been happening.  Some of these folks think that it is all cool if they slap a disclaimer at the top of their page claiming that the recipes & photos they post (without permission from the authors or owners) are not theirs and then call it a day.  But there is a still problem with that....

It isn't legal.  

At all.

There is no credit to the recipe's originator.  There is no link back to the author's website.

Nope.  Just swiped, copied, & pasted.

I know in this day and age a lot of people have come to think that anything posted on the internet is free game.  But it isn't.

It is exactly the same if I would pick up Paula Deen's cookbook or Rachel Ray's, copy one of their recipes word for word into a blog post, scan the photo from the recipe page & slap it in there, and then give no credit to either Paula or Rachel.

We would all agree that isn't quite kosher, right?

So why would it be okay in the slightest to do the same with a recipe and photo from a website?

Listen, I am not going to get into all the legalities of it.  If you would like to read up on that more, Amanda from I am baker has written a great post on all that- What Every Facebook User Needs to Know.

But aside from all the legal stuff, what has happened to common respect for others' hard work?  

When did it become okay, even acceptable to just swipe someone else's ideas and words and photos & then insult the author of the above mentioned material when they call out the person in the wrong?  

Yes, I have witnessed this on a couple of Facebook pages.  I have seen food bloggers called "jealous", "bullies", & "wanting to steal joy from others"...  What?  

You can steal recipes and photos.  That is cool.  But please don't steal their joy from those swiped recipes and photos?

There was a serious gang bullying mentality happening on these pages, and it was sad to see.

Yes, there can be legal repercussions from copying and pasting recipes.  

But what has happened to mutual respect?

Would these individuals act this way to these food bloggers' faces?  Or has it become so easy to disregard people's feelings and rights when we can simply hide behind our online personas?

How to respectfully (and legally) share a recipe on your Facebook page from a website or another a Facebook page:

The above photo is a screenshot of a recipe link I shared on my personal Facebook page yesterday.  I have included the photo (yes, I right clicked & saved it to my computer & then uploaded it to my Facebook page- & I had permission from the author to do that because she is one of my March sponsors), the direct link to the recipe post, and I even tagged her blog's Facebook fan page in it.  You will notice that there is not an entire recipe or a list of ingredients in this post.  If the reader wants the recipe, they will need to click the link to go to the original source and get it.  I am sharing a lovely recipe & photo, and I am doing so respectfully and legally.

Most food bloggers, celebrity chefs, and food companies make it SUPER easy for you to legally share a photo and recipe link with your friends and family on your Facebook page...

See that Share button right there?  Just click it.  Then you can share the recipe and the link all at once & add your only little note to it as well- like, "Yum, going to make this for dinner soon!".  Oh, and the link back to the recipe's originator is already included when you click the Share button.  Much easier than copying and pasting an entire recipe and downloading and then uploading a photo, right? ;) 

I beg of you all- Please click that Share button on any of my recipes with photos that I post to my Frugal Foodie Mama Facebook Fan page as much as you would like! :) And pin them.  And tweet them.  Please. :) I appreciate all of you who have been sharing and linking back to me.

And if you all are looking for a Facebook page to follow that will be collecting the best of food blogger recipes AND giving proper credit to the bloggers who created them, please make sure you stop by Authentic Blogger Recipes on Facebook and give them a Like.  I am honored to be a part of this great page. :)

Did any of you find this helpful?  Are there any burning questions that you may have about this topic?  

Please let me know, and I will do my best to answer them or find the answers to them for you.