facebook

Words have power. Using facebook, words, are the ties that bind us to our friends and families. The brief hellos, the comments and chats, the crazy notes and surveys we share, all are words. Our words brand us in a way. They reflect our personality and philosophy.

Facebooks Terms of Service brands them and reflects upon us, its users. I think that is what has caused the most uproar. Most of us, until social media, have never been “friends” with a company. I may wear a T-Shirt with a company logo, but I really don’t expect that to mean that I agree with every decision that company makes or that I have the ear of the CEO!!

Most of us, until social media, have never been “friends” with a company.

Facebook is different. It is a company and a community. The advent of Wiki has changed the way we expect companies billing themselves as a community to operate. We believe, rightly or wrongly, that our input matters. Facebook seems to be listening. On a group page set up the company, the “Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” page, users have an opportunity to comment on their concerns and stipulate what issues they would like to see addressed by the new Terms of Service agreement.

Facebook has the opportunity to define and set the standard for what comes next in the world of social networks. As the front runner in the emerging world of social media and virtual living, what facebook does right now, will be, copied by all who follow. It speaks well of their intentions that they have responded to the Terms of Service backlash with this opportunity for the facebook community to chime in on the direction things should take.

Missteps in communication and direction are bound to happen as companies and network denizens try to form a new set of ground rules that allows for personal and company protection. Patience, listening, and reasoned presentations of viewpoints, followed by new ways of thinking, may allow facebook to lead the way to creating new legal solutions to accomplish their goals while maintaining their users trust and protecting their personal information. Personal information is after all, well, personal.

Where my concerns and question lie . . .

Where my concerns and question lie are with the rights I give away when I connect my facebook account with other accounts such as Flickr, Twitter, or Zynga. When I click to link to these things I get a message that says “Allow” And give a brief and all to vague description of what I am allowing. Are those applications governed by a different set of Terms of Service? If they are and I link to them to my facebook account, does facebook then have to follow that companies terms of service, or is the link a license to own, use, archive, etc., all that personal and potentially copyrighted material as well? If I am losing the rights I agreed to on sites where I “own” the content, I want to know that upfront. If I am losing my rights to material, I will not post these things to facebook. I just want to know what it is I am choosing to allow.

In this new framework the responsibility of the user is just as important as the responsibilities of the company. How many of us actually read the terms of service section of any service when we sign up? Usually even when I do read it, I can’t understand it. I’m not a lawyer.

Facebook has made a commitment to having it’s terms of service written in understandable language. See “Update on Terms”blog post by Mark Zuckerberg. Wonderful!! What one must now realize is that it is your responsibily to read it. “Agree” and continue or “Disagree” and stop. The choice is ours. I just want to know what it is I am choosing.