Facebrick

The only two things you need to know about Facebook new terms are :

– ( already exists) “you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook.”

– ( revised) “You give us permission to use your name, and profile picture, content, and information in connection with commercial, sponsored, or related that content (such as a brand you like) served or enhanced by us, subject to the limits you place. This means, for example, that you permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you.”

The first part, you have already agreed upon.Facebook can share your content freely already. The second adds the right for then to monetize it without giving you any thing in exchange, if you let them.

The key part is ” subject to the limits you place” . Apparently Facebook will allow you to decide via tools which content can and cannot be monetized by them. That is important for photographers because it seems that there will be an opportunity to protect images from being used for advertising campaigns sold by Facebook. However, since the tools are not visible yet, it is hard to know how simple this process will be. We have seen in the past that Facebook can hide privacy tools pretty well, making them practically unusable.

It is also quite possible that in the near future, if you do not let Facebook monetize your content, they will make you pay to use their service. After all, they are a business and not a non for profit.

This should come at no surprise to those comfortable with how social media. After all, the rules are simple: they offer a free service for you to post and share content which in turn they monetize. Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, google plus, tumblr are all on the same path.

What can you do about it ?

– Stop using Facebook ( and consider dropping all other social media channels as they reveal their business plans)

– Continue to use Facebook :

a) but avoid posting any images.

b) ignore the changes and hope for the best

c) manage settings so that no images of yours can be used by Facebook .

d) start controlling your images and monetization by using tools like Stipple

e) post comments in their forum in the hopes they will change their minds

f) find a lawyer willing to sue Facebook

g) organize or be part of a massive movement against Facebook’s new terms

Be ready to repeat any of these options when the next massive social media channel announces a similar plan.