Many people start their Social Profile Marketing campaigns without having a clue about the rights and ownership over the published contents. That's not exactly a clever move but, as in high school, common sense has little or nothing to do with trends.
(Purpose one: stop talking about my high school days. That's why I'm paying a shrink for..)
It is tedious to read the Terms of Service but, if you're serious about your campaign, you have to know the extents of these terms and how they affect the quality and promotion of your message.
When in Rome, post as the Romans...
Terms of... what?
We all have done this: Whenever we sign up for an Internet service, we quickly scroll down the boring text and eagerly state that we agree to the terms of service.
Way to go, Einstein.
"Terms of Service" (or TOS) are a fancy, almost friendly way to establish a contract between the user and the provider and it is there for your information as a consumer, so you know what can you expect and what is expected from you. But this is how peer pressure works:
- The buzz of a new online trend spreads and EVERYONE ends up signing up for it.
- You start feeling the pressure. People communicate and arrange dates, appointments and meetings through this tool and you feel left out.
- You investigate about it, read about its owners and the kind of services it offers.
- The pressure sinks in and you end up signing for God knows what. You feel you have something in common with others
- What you have in common with others is a ton of complains and measly customer service. Since most of these applications and services are free or require a small fee, there's not a lot of powerbombing to be made. Congrats: You probably sold your soul for the crummy benefit of updating others about your cat.
The big debate: Do they own us?
Last year, there was some debate about Facebook's new TOS. Pretty much, it felt as if all the personal information and contents we provided became property of Facebook and associates. Facebook's been trying to clearify their perspective about intellectual property but, sadly, it's all in dodgy legal jargon.
If I were you, I'd be really cautious about the contents I upload there.
If they have you by the short hairs, then it's time to trim the delicate areas!
- Restrain information to what's relevant to your campaign (in most of the cases: contact with customers, brand awareness and PR)
- For the love of God... READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE! Go ahead. I'll wait until you do it. Go on...
- While common sense will never beat legal advice, please: Don't expect to lose rights or privileges and then expect a miraculous loophole that will turn things back to normal. It rarely happens. I haven't met the first person to win against these social networks and so haven't you.
- Always secure your rights over your intellectual and creative production.
- Do I have to say this again? ALWAYS read the terms of service. Yes. Always.
In the end, it's all a matter of knowing how far your rights go. In these cases, knowledge is power. Legal issues can ruin the execution of a marketing campaign.
Always be the one to know.
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