Automatic blogging software is nothing new to the blogosphere. It was originally created to help aggregate RSS feeds on a single page, but it was not too long until certain people began abusing the software and used it to get quick money. Despite the blogosphere’s generally negative attitude toward it, auto-blog software can be useful if used correctly.
Ask for permission
Just ask for permission before you automatically aggregate someone’s content. Also, make sure you save the e-mail or letter that gives your permission. This is the single best way to avoid any copyright disputes, although duplicate content issues may still be a factor.
Quote articles
If your specific auto-blog software allows you to quote articles - do it. This is especially true if you are running a news blog. The fair use doctrine in the copyright laws let you quote sections of news articles for news reporting without getting into any copyright trouble. Fair use is the reason sites like digg.com are legal.
Leave footer text intact
If you automatically blog articles from sites like goarticles.com make sure you leave the footer text intact. These sites allow you to copy the articles, as long as any of the information the author entered remains there. In the footer the author may list a short description of themself, a URL to their site, and some copyright information.
Conclusion
Is auto-blog software bad? It can be, just like anything else. It is a bit like P2P software in that it is used for more bad than good, but it can be used for good. If you correctly use auto-blogging software you can make a decent news aggregator with ease.
But should it be used? I think not. Bloggers who do manual work are more successful than those who don’t. Just because you can use something doesn’t mean you should.
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