True Confessions Of A Marketing Intern

As I’m sure most of you have heard, Facebook’s user agreement terms
became public recently.  Someone in the media finally figured out that
Facebook included in their terms proprietorship over all user
generated content and released this information to public outcry.
People started canceling their accounts (just as an aside, canceling
doesn’t matter once they own the information) and Facebook began
losing their brand equity.  What is really remarkable about this whole
situation is the way Facebook managed to turn this situation around.

Their first reaction was to deny and lie.  They said that the clause
was misunderstood by the public and that what they really meant was
that even if you untagged yourself in a picture it would still be on
the uploader’s page.  They claimed that the clause had nothing to do
with them owning or keeping the content, it was necessary for them to
allow content sharing.  This was clearly  completely untrue and likely
did more to damage their image than renew public trust.  In case you
believe there is any validity to Facebook’s claim consider the current
situation: Facebook has removed the ownership clause and untagged
picture are still available.

That is when Facebook did what it does best and used social media to
solve the problem.  Facebook is putting all of its Web 2.0 skills to
the test and allowing the public to discuss the terms and conditions
of the site.  Among other means of gathering public opinion on the
issue they will host “Town Halls” (election anybody?) and hold public
votes.  This is a great move because not only will the term and
conditions be accepted by the public; creating them in a collaborative
environment will, I believe, create affective commitment within the
community.

I really think this is a great move for Facebook, both from a PR and a
Marketing perspective.  They don’t really need to own the information
posted if they continue to expand in the social media industry as fast
as they are currently growing.  In the long run it is much better for
them to lose this little bit of control to gain back their brand
equity.

I found the following article does a great job explaining their new method for developing terms and conditions.
http://tiny.cc/Empp5
(You need to clickon the right hand side link for “Faebook - A More Open Book Policy Toward It’s Users?)