The current and burning issue of content is that how and where to upload it and its ownership. While considering the relationship between websites and the users who uploaded various content pages like photos, video, blogs, games etc, where it is hosted is a very important point to be considered.
What is the Current Practice?
In current trend, there is no crystal clear policy or standard industry practice of ownership of the uploaded content. Most of the sites give away some rights to the uploader and control some rights to use the content as they deem fit to. Most likely, they would take either of the two approaches: either you keep your content and we hold the right to use it variously or they own the uploaded content and give the uploader some rights to use it. That is to say, the uploader gains something and loses something in return as far as his/her right to the content is concerned. But, ultimately they do get the content hosted online.
So, what are the ways that are beneficial?
Focus Upon the Strategy and Create Content:
Hosting the content depends largely on the goals and strategies you intend to execute. Because, content creation is ultimately a part of the long term marketing strategies on a large scale and we decide the host as per the strategy we apply. If it is a long term strategy, you should create the content on your own domain name and if it is a short term goal, you can choose any of the free social media or any other platform to create and host the content.
Sometimes, we simply want to exploit the social media platforms to inspire the users to buy our products or services and therefore the social element is more important for the time being which makes sense in using it. So, the purpose of the content sometimes decides the platform to be used to some extent.
Host the Content on Your Own Site:
The best choice is to host the content on the own domain name or your own site. The reason is simple: you own the site! Since you own it, you don’t have to think about the ownership rights and all other allied issues that might arise out of it. You have you own rules and regulations or terms and conditions of the site that you own and nobody can take away or claim the ownership rights to the uploaded content. It is much easier and far better unlike posting on a platform where you hold no rights.
Ownership Matters the Most!
The ideal way is to own the domain name. Though the social media platforms which provide the service free do technically offer the necessary tools, but at the same time they do not offer it on the long term basis. So, if you want to create content on the long term basis, you depend heavily upon the platform where you want to host it.
In the end, I would only say that it is the kind of content and the larger purpose that decides the host which sometimes better suits the non-owned platforms and to best suit the ultimate goal, you must own the content and the platform as well.
About Kathy:
Kathy is an online marketing expert and a blogger. She offers consulting services to diverse online clients she has been working with for the last 4 years. She has recently focused on SEO Consultant India to gain some insights into different areas of online marketing like SEO, blogging, social media, etc. You can consult with SEO consultant here: http://www.zealousweb.net
Kathy
