CAUTION – Read the Terms of Service Before You Use Facebook for Marketing

February 24, 2011 2 Comments

Have you read Facebook’s Terms of service? Maybe you aren’t having that much trouble sleeping, but truthfully, I encourage you, implore you, to read them if you’re using Facebook for business.  With its almost 600 million members, if Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd most populated in the world.  In Mark Zuckerberg’s words, “Our terms aren’t just a document that protect our rights; it’s the governing document for how the service is used by everyone across the world.”

So Zuckerberg’s  developed a country, and his terms are the constitution. Ok, maybe that’s going a bit too far, but they are important and if you’re spending time and money developing a Facebook page and a fan base for your business, you want to make sure you aren’t doing anything that could compromise what you’ve built. Here’s a few things you should be aware of.

It is against the terms of service to have more than one profile.

Even if you’re using one for your business profile and one for your friends and family, it breaks the rules. Instead, consider locking down your personal profile’s privacy settings and then using that profile to admin your business pages. With Facebook’s new ability to post as a page across the network, the problem of comments showing up as your personal profile is solved. Now you don’t have an excuse.

You cannot have a contest on your page

That’s right. This is strictly forbidden. The only way Facebook allows you to involve them in a contest is if you use a third party platform. Read it – it’s real. There are some instances when you can run promotions on your pages, so check out the promotions guidelines  if in doubt:

You cannot use the Facebook logo or language in your ads

Yep. Their terms limit the use of: “Facebook logos, trademarks, site terminology (including but not limited to Facebook, The Facebook, FacebookHigh, FBook, FB, Poke, Wall, and other company graphics, logos, designs, or icons)” in ads you create.

These terms are meant to enhance the user experience and keep the content open and consistent with the tone of Facebook. They strive to “transform existing advertising into messages that are tailored to the individual user based on how their friends interact and affiliate with the brands, music artists, and businesses they care about.”

The consequences for violating the terms?  They’ll stop providing part, or all of Facebook to you.  Now that’s something that should keep you up at night.

Here’s some of the the terms for your reading enjoyment:

Terms of service: http://www.facebook.com/terms.php

Page terms: http://www.facebook.com/terms.php#!/terms_pages.php

Promotions guidelines: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

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Change this Setting on Facebook to Improve Your Security

January 27, 2011 Leave a comment

 If you use Facebook over a public WiFi connection very often, say your local coffee shop, the airport,  the mall, you’ll want to take advantage of this new setting. Facebook has added the ability to use an https connection whenever it is available, which will make it much more difficult for someone to retrieve your data. You may have seen https before – your bank probably uses this type of connection, as well as most ecommerce sites. The S stands for secure, and using this feature should, according to Mashable, “drastically increase security for users.”

 Here’s how to add this security setting to your account. Click on “account” then “account settings.”

Then click “change” next to Account Security.

Look to see if “Secure Browsing https” is among the choices.

 If it is, check the box. If it isn’t, check back often as Facebook is rolling out this setting gradually rather than all at once.

That’s it! Don’t you feel more secure now?

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Twitter scare proves social media is still the Wild West.

September 21, 2010 4 Comments

A security flaw in Twitter was exploited this morning on thousands of accounts, sending out strange looking messages that contained a JavaScript function known as onMouseOver. Third party applications, like Tweetdeck  (which is what I’m using at R+L Carriers) were not affected. I did see some of R+L’s followers affected, and they were taken quite by surprise!

You’ve run across this onMouseOver function plenty of times while browing the Internet, I’m sure. This command creates a event when you run your mouse over text. You don’t have to click it, your just run your mouse over it and something happens. In this case, the event redirected users to sites that could contain a virus or in some cases, a porn site. A complete explanation is available at Mashable if you want to know more.Wild West

This morning’s event illustrates what I’ve always said – that Social Media is still the Wild West. Stuff happens, and we need to be able to think fast on our feet and recover quickly. Actual hacking like this scenario is relatively rare. More common are false or misleading posts, links to bot created content, and folks pretending to be something they are not.  There are plenty of people out there without any scruples ready to hide behind their tough and sleek looking profile.

As you create your social media presence, beware of these issues. Stay on your toes. Keep your guns in your holster, but be ready to draw at any moment. Just don’t shoot the messenger.

Filed under Business, social media Tagged with , , , , , ,

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