Comments on: Learn more about Facebook

By: Mike Shipman

Mike Shipman — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:35:12 +0000

A caution regarding Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn, and other such sites. Read the Terms of Service very closely. By agreeing to the TOS for Facebook, for instance, you “warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.” This means you grant Facebook (in this case) the right to use your image to promote and advertise their service, use any part of the images you post to create other works, and even license your images to other services (for their profit not yours), all without any compensation to you. Whether Facebook or other services will actually do that is not the issue. The fact that the language is there and you agree to it is enough. What you do is up to you, but being aware of the “small print” can save you a lot of grief later on, if perhaps you see an advertisement using your image and after tracking down the “infringer” you find it was sublicensed from Facebook with your permission (from the TOS). If you must post works on social networking sites, place an embedded copyright notice and symbol on the image to discourage any other use. Although, if the copyright notice is removed, I think they would have a legal leg to stand on based on your agreeing to the TOS. Free online portfolio and social networking sites are fine, but in reality they are not set up for your benefit. Just be aware of the potential use of your images by these companies minus compensation to you. Some TOS agreements specifically state a limited usage granted by you (rather than the all-encompassing, world-wide, royalty free boilerplate), such as, granting permission to post your images on your profile/portfolio, create back-up copies in case of server failure, copy and use your images to display on other parts of the site to promote your listing, etc. and may also state a limited duration for the posting of your image. If you look at my Facebook profile, I’ve posted a text image stating my disagreement to the rights granted portion of the TOS. Mike Shipman

By: Susan Elcox

Susan Elcox — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:12:40 +0000

I have a profile on Facebook, but haven’t been actively using it because I have heard so much press of people (especially youngsters) getting into trouble through the use of it. You know….the terrible murders and sexual assaults that have occurred due to the use of Facebook. I don’t want to leave myself vulnerable, evn though I recognize the business benefits. I also have the same concerns with other social media such as Twitter. Comments from any of you?

By: Nantucket Art

Nantucket Art — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:55:37 +0000

A great post Alyson, it’s vital nowadays that Artists can promote themselves online and through Socal Networks such as Facebook and MySpace. There’s also afew networks dedicated to the Arts such as ArtSlant, Etsy and Pieronymus Art to name a-few. Keep up the good work and come say hi if you are ever on the Cape or Nantucket!!

By: Katherine Sands

Katherine Sands — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:46:03 +0000

Hi Alyson, I went to Facebook per your suggestion, and tried to email you, but it didn’t go, saying you had some privacy restrictions or had opted out of receiving email. I was checking out Facebook!

By: Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:07:13 +0000

Alyson, thanks for the plug. It’s worth mentioning that I made more than $4,000 from the LinkedIn teleseminar series as a result of creating an “event” on my Facebook page, letting my 1,000+ Facebook friends know about the series. I can track back that $4,000 to my Facebook friends. I was astounded when I discovered this. I wrote more about how, when you post your events to Facebook and Twitter, they start to grow legs! You can read my blog post at http://tinyurl.com/6qcrv4 Artists, if you have events like classes, gallery shows (is that what you call them?), demonstrations, etc., you MUST be on Facebook. P.S. I’ll be creating an event for the Facebook teleseminar series and letting my 1,000+ Facebook friends know about it tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see how many sign-ups I get.