I’m not quitting Instagram…
Social media proves its worth when it comes to spreading news across the world but occasionally it can create it too. Yesterday (18 Dec 2012) it seems everyone was talking about Instagram and what they plan to do with users’ photos.
Instagram announced a few changes to their T&Cs and most people did the same thing they do with all T&Cs, speed-reading through them not really understanding or caring what had changed. A few however decided that they’d delve deeper and apparently uncovered an evil plot…
Instagram are going to sell our photos and make millions from our personal property!
What surprises me most about this is that I seem to be amongst the very few who weren’t outraged by this news and didn’t even consider deleting my account in protest. Many others though took to their Facebook accounts (the irony) and Twitter to complain about this sudden infringement on their privacy, copyright, freedom, human rights, the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, and all the other laws that have nothing to do with posting on social media sites but have been cited as laws that Instagram is now breaking.
Let’s set the scene a little. In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1bn. That’s quite a lot of cash and no doubt they made all the money they needed for the purchase from all the subscriptions they charge Facebook users. No, wait, hold on, Facebook is free. So how did they have all that money? Oh yeah, selling advertising. Despite Facebook being free for the user, every time its T&Cs are amended there is outrage.
Posts about how Facebook is now going to start owning our homes, sell our children or kill our pets surface and users start citing those laws mentioned previously and threaten to close their accounts. Yet things die down and everyone carries on as normal because really nothing much actually changes.
Facebook does not sell your photos.
What it can do though, if your settings allow, is use your information to send you targeted advertising. It can read our data and use it to tell advertisers how many of us like a certain type of chocolate or what TV programmes we watch. It can use our profile picture to show our friends what brands we like but, if our privacy settings are configured correctly, it won’t show profile pictures to people we don’t know.
All in all, besides some trailblazing data capture methods, Facebook is no different to any other clever marketing tool that is designed to research customer trends for the purposes of selling advertising.
Let’s say you still don’t trust Zuckerberg and co but still want to use Facebook. That’s fine, just don’t share things you don’t want them to know about and make sure your privacy settings are up to date. It amazes me how many people have their mobile numbers and personal emails on their contact pages and still have open accounts for the world to see, yet complain when they hear that once again Facebook threatens to tell everyone what colour underwear they are wearing.
So back to Instagram. $1bn, that really is a lot of money to pay for a company that at the moment isn’t making money. It might shock you, and I’ve blogged about this before, but Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Google+, Instagram, and all the other social media sites around today and coming in the future are not developed for fun. They are developed to make money. I know, how dare they!
When this news surfaced one tweet that was reprinted by the media at large said “This is Instagram’s suicide note.” I agree and it would be if Instagram were actually doing what these news reports claimed. Lets say a company was to suddenly say they were now going to use our photos, even the ones from users whose accounts are made private, to make money. I would fully expect that all but the very narcissistic of us would leave, it would indeed be commercial suicide. But that’s not what they said.
What Instagram, well Facebook, is doing is amending its T&Cs to bring them into line with Facebook’s. It wants to be able to offer its new platform to businesses to make money. It means that as time goes on, they may use our data to show what brands we are associated with and it may mean that we get targeted advertising. This might decrease the user experience slightly but it’ll be no worse than watching a tv programme on a commercial channel rather than the BBC, even then you can try to ignore the adverts.
Instagram’s co-founder, Kevin Systrom, confirmed this in a statement on their site’s blog late yesterday and also added:
“Instagram users own their content and Instagram does not claim any ownership rights over your photos. Nothing about this has changed. We respect that there are creative artists and hobbyists alike that pour their heart into creating beautiful photos, and we respect that your photos are your photos. Period.”
Some have called this backpedaling, I’m not so sure. I think perhaps what happened is what usually happens in a situation like this. A few people got the wrong end of the stick, they ran with their paranoia and others caught on. Meanwhile Instagram sat back and watched and got a lot of free international publicity out of it. Probably about $1bn worth.
Again if you still don’t trust Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all the others that you enjoy all the benefits of for free, then as The Independent’s, Deputy Editor, Archie Bland says: maybe it’s time to move on.
hutch PR 
Thanks for clarifying the mystery. I heard all the hub bub, but do not use Instagram, so was not versed at all on the particulars. Now i know where to come for a primer.
Good post, and good thoughts. I’ve been thinking people have been freaking out too much about this Instagram stuff…Now I have this blog post to share with them!
Couldn’t agree more. We all have the right to choose what we post on sites such as these. I disagree with the path that social media is taking our society, but it is a necessary evil at this point. It’s simply how we stay connected in today’s world.
I can admit I was one of the many that ran with the story, because it was an outrageous one. While we do use these services for free, it’s because they were offered to us for free. Had it initially been a fee based site the social media trend may have turned out very differently. While I recognize that businesses are out to make money, it should not be at the expense of others and the language of their terms made their intentions dubious at best. The internet world brings up many new issues we have yet had to deal with so it’s understandable that people will panic when changes occur, they often don’t know what the real ramifications will be- I mean, who, if anyone, originally signed up for Facebook thinking that one day their photo would pop up in an ad for some random product they might not ever support? They thought keeping in touch with friends and family would be great and forgot that marketing and advertising run the world! 🙂
All that hot air said, I enjoyed your perspective and well written post. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Sara,
I agree this still relatively young world does bring new issues and I think pioneers like Facebook/Instagram etc are trailblazing and essentially making it up as they go along. I hope that while doing this they remain ethical though and listen to the views of their users to ensure there is not only a compromise in how social media evolves but also a situation that benefits us all equally. Be that financially or through convenience.
Good post, i shared it for all my friends who are always on Instagram =)
Bravo for understanding the changes in the T&Cs! And for clarifying it for loads of people.
As an artist (I hear eyes rolling!), it was the “without any compensation to you” bit that made the decision to delete my account for me. I never put anything on Instagram that I intended to be sold, and if there existed the possibility, however faint, that it would be sold I would expect to see some compensation for that. I’m not a stock photo service.
That being said, you make an excellent point.
While Instagram has more than likely seen the artist in many people flourish (for better or worse) professional artists like you will no doubt have latched on to its benefits too.
Indeed I maintain that social media is paid for by other means but if photography/art is your lifeblood then hopefully there will be options that help protect that. It can only strike me as common sense that if Instagram do want to monetise then working with professional artists is one way they can do that for mutual benefit.
Just goes to show how many people will jump on a social media bandwagon (deleting their account rashly or spreading the rumors about Instagram selling photos), without actually researching the situation themselves. I am not a user of Instagram, so this particular situation did not affect me, but I find it interesting how quickly rumors spread via social media and how many people take most of what they read online as the truth.
Thanks so much for clarifying and to be honest, if Instagram wants to sell one of my novice iphone pictures, I’d be rather flattered.. I don’t do the bandwagon thing, then again I’m not on the book of faces any more either…
Great post!!
Reblogged this on sightsbitsandbites.
I don’t use Instagram so I’m not in a position to worry about my images being used in that case. I have, however, found myself trying to remove images added to Pinterest by other people. I was only aware of the situation because I have a blog with stats. It isn’t just a case of telling people to be careful with their own images, they also need to be careful with those belonging to others. I’ve ended up with a Pinterest account so that I can leave comments on my own images asking that they are removed. What actually happens is that my comments are removed. I have a Facebook account but have added very few photos and my profile image doesn’t give much away. The photos posted on Twitpic aren’t special. I have always wondered why so many assume these services are free and can only put it down to the strong sense of entitlement that seems to have developed over recent years. Well done on being FPd.
@positivegreenford Pinterest does offer a couple of ways to prevent people from taking your pictures (under http://pinterest.com/about/help/):
What if I don’t want images from my site to be pinned?
We have a small piece of code you can add to the head of any page on your site:
When a user tries to pin from your site, they will see this message:
“This site doesn’t allow pinning to Pinterest. Please contact the owner with any questions. Thanks for visiting!”
it didn’t let the code show up, but if you go to the bottom of “getting started” on the help page it will be there.
Thanks for this info. It’s really useful and I’m sure other commenters will think about using it with their Pintrest accounts too. I wonder if it’s an example Instagram could take up?
Thanks for sharing this piece. I found it very useful!
I hadn’t even heard of Instagram till my thirteen year old granddaughter explained it to me recently. To think that till now I have been tucking my pictures into a bunch of shoe boxs and the shoe boxes under the bed (no one wanted to view them).
Now off to share this informative post to my Instagram user friends. Kudos on being FP! :=)
Reblogged this on Clarissa's Blog and commented:
I also think that people who are quitting Instagram in a huff are weird. I don’t use Instagram but I use Google Images a lot and I find it very convenient to have an enormous stock of images easily accessible to me. This is why I don’t mind in the least Google using my photos that I choose to upload.
If people actually read the T&C this wouldn’t be an issue.. Everyone just clicks accept without even thinking.. If you could put a clause in there about offering up your firstborn, how long before someone notices?
It’s interesting you say that… did you hear about what Gamestation did for an April Fool’s joke with their T&Cs?
http://www.out-law.com/page-10929
I Appreciate you sharing this information here. It was a brilliant post. thanks!
Good article. Thanks for writing!
I’ve always hated Facebook and I don’t use Instagram. I do think it’s pretty hilarious how, every few months, Facebook users get up in arms about changes to Facebook’s terms of use – and then they keep using Facebook. If you’re going to complain about Facebook, quit using it. Mark Zuckerberg is laughing at you.
When people update their whole live every 15 minutes to tell us when they bought a bagle, its hard to listen to them whine about privacy rights.
Indeed! Couldn’t agree more.
Well said! Thanks for the clarification as well 🙂
It’s actually kind of strange. When I finished my MArch degree, I had to sign a non-exclusive, royalty-free license of my work to the university. It’s standard procedure, but I was thankful I still had the rights to my own work. Some universities aren’t so kind. One day, I found my thesis being sold by an agency for $75 for a non-printable version. I had to ask the university, and they gave the rights to library Canada to offer it. But the sad thing is, someone can download my PDF from the university’s website.
It’s a tough pill to swallow, seeing your work being offered for sale by someone else and you don’t see a penny but you’ve spent thousands of dollars on your work.
I don’t particularly think the clauses indicated are fair, given that you are solely liable but they are free to sell/distribute/modify, etc. But maybe that’s the price you pay for free use of software.
well thought out post,,I think you should have been the news anchor presenting this story on the news channels, then there would not have been all this confusion caused by some very unbalance and poorly researched news reporting…
Good post … thanks
Maybe it was taken in the wrong way a few years back when it was Facebook under fire for having in their ToS that they owned all images uploaded to the site. If not, I find it a little ironic that FB purchased Instagram which is claiming all images are solely owned by that of the person who took them.
I could never quit Instagram. Haha great post though, thanks for sharing and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
Good stuff
Thanks for your post. People get very upset when they feel that their privacy is being infringed on and I think fail to understand that there is nothing private about posting stuff on the Internet. It’s sort of like writing things — or sticking photos — on a wall that the whole world can see! But mostly, nobody bothers to look. We are in an evolving world of information technology and I bet people were super ticked off about the first direct mail pieces that arrived that their house. Actually, lots of people still are! Fun times ahead.
An interesting post, and you fairly point out that a free service is very rarely actually free. It is also true that any image posted into the internet is potential fodder for copying, and that any online information is prone to marketing imperatives, hackers, and simple poor data management. It is also true that Instagram cost a cool billion dollars and that it was bought by the largest social media organisation in the world that has been struggling to explain its terms of service in ways that are acceptable. Every user of social media has the right to not use that service, and is completely free to limit their online data sharing as the only true method of maintaining privacy. Even further, it is true that an online world will have a large and diverse pool of data points on you from government, corporate and social databases, so even a full abstaining from social media is no guarantee that your privacy will be respected. A number of people have commented on the vanity of the average user and the urge to be the next viral photo/video/whatever.
All of these points are true.
They are true but they do not take away a global preference that corporations act in a prudent and socially acceptable manner, treating members/users/customers with dignity and respect. The changes to the terms of service contained language that would always provoke a worried response. Just a little more care and understanding would have allowed this imbroglio to have been cut off at the outset, instead of causing the angst and grief that it has.
And please do not denigrate those who are seeking a higher level of privacy than you or i may be. There are genuine concerns out there, and people who have no hope of understanding the Terms of Service. While it can be argued that these people should not agree to anything they do not understand or have never read, that line of thought would stop 98% of people from being able to sign any housing/car/personal loan document, so it’s not really an argument that holds water.
If Instagram/Facebook were genuinely attempting to think of their members, they could quite easily have started a “trial run” for people to volunteer for the new terms. They could have offered a chance for people happy to share with advertisers a chance to get feedback and promotion for the use of their material. Some people may want compensation and some may want fame but regardless, there would be millions who would sign onto such a program willingly. Once up and running, their examples could be presented to others.
Although i have avoided Facebook, i have enjoyed waking up in the morning to photo artwork of professionals and amateurs from around the world. For those who do not use Instagram these worries and ToS issues can seem petty and paranoid but each user will have their reason for being there and their level of understanding/acceptance of the social media fundamentals.
There is room for a win/win here – but the process taken was never going to allow that to happen.
I fully agree, there is room for a win/win and I think Instagram/facebook have handled this well so far.
They did give a thirty day window for users to close their accounts if they did not agree to the new T&Cs and that, I think, shows a willingness to work with their users. I doubt they expected the backlash they received but it appears they are listening and are doing things to ensure clarity and willingness to work with users first. After all if it wasn’t for the users then they wouldn’t have a business. So, let’s see what happens, social media is still evolving and the T&Cs along with it, hopefully if people like you and I do write and blog and work with the social media providers enough then a win/win situation can be achieved.
Thanks for commenting.
Social media has become the part and parcel of our life…do you agree that most of us today cannot do without facebook and other social media sites everyday?
An interesting question Margaret and I think the answer depends on who you ask. If you asked my 13 year old niece then I think she’d panic at the thought of no more Facebook or twitter. I think many businesses too are seeing such a good ROI with social media that they too may not have survived the recent financial problems that we have all faced had it not been for the communication channels that social media provides.
That being said, many people (including my wife) do not use facebook or other channels and get along just fine.
And that brings me back to the point I make in my blog. Social media is a choice. It will benefit many but not necessarily all and so if you are a business trying to determine what communication channels work for you then research is needed. As a personal user, if you do not like the way certain social media platforms use your data or would like to use a platform that fits your personality more, then hopefully you will find one, or you may still prefer to use a more traditional form of keeping in touch.
I don’t believe that social media will replace already well-established forms of communication, it will simple enhance and complement them and so hopefully we will all be able to live without one or the other should they end up not working for us the way we want them to.
For once someone sets the facts straight. Thank you!
Reblogged this on louisepageblog.
I love instagram! And I wouldn’t stop using it for anything! Thanks for the great post!
Social media always is changing. Now instagram, tomorrow something else, right?
I totally agree. Most users are not tech-savvy and Facebook didn’t necessarily design their interface to make these privacy settings easy to configure for these said users. Only recently did they start making this effort. Still, the default setting for changing the profile picture is public 🙂
Still using instagram. Still like it…
Great post! So agreed. I also plan to keep my Instagram rocking! 😉
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
Even I don’t use instagram, I know there is some media said that Instagram will sell their user photo. But you are great, to telling clarification. Nice post.
I must admit that I am one of those people who protested with outrage and harumphed about the change in T&Cs. I did, however, read the terms and conditions in full. It was a huge read but I feel better informed after reading it. Instagram does say in its T&C’s that “you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post on or through the Service” which was very worrying because it does set out what everyone was worried about anyway. But it also goes on to say “except that you can control who can view certain of your Content and activities on the Service as described in the Service’s Privacy Policy.” I’m probably going to keep using Instagram but I may have to look at my privacy settings in the process.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s always good to see things from a different perspective. Makes one’s decision making better really.
Thanks Yelly,
That’s a good attitude to have. Just make sure you read the T&Cs and ensure they work for you before you click ‘accept’.
To me the issue reflects the collision between the “new” world of social networking, which we expect to be free; and the ‘old’ world of commerce which was built around physically transactable products. The web is intangible. How is it monetised? The answer’s advertising; but it isn’t a complete answer, and I think the growing pains are going to be significant. The Instagram debacle is one symptom. They may not be taking user photos and selling them as if their own, but they do seem to have reduced their interactivity with Twitter, which has reduced functionality.
One of the features I can see emerging is transience; today’s high-flyer system is tomorrow’s dead duck. People want novelty, and they want it ever-faster. Remember Bebo? No? People also don’t want inconvenience.
The question I have is whether things will evolve down the line of ‘evil’ or not (a corporate mind-set rather neatly lampooned in the orgiinal Robocop movie, 1987 and which seems to inevitably accompany the hubris of scale). There are other ways, but I fear they may be lost in the scrabble to monetise in the new environment. We’ll see.
Thanks Mathew,
I really do think you and I are in agreement here. As the less tangible products do look to monetise then advertising is the obvious first route. That being said, as you point out, it may not be the only answer.
Evolution of these new channels will no doubt create many more peaks and troughs and indeed today’s high flyer may well be a name we reminisce about in the future. Hopefully those that work with their users who use their services for free and those who pay will create a platform that does benefit all. As I have said above in other replies, I also believe that social media isn’t here to replace traditional forms of communication but more to enhance and extended what we already have realised as tried and tested methods.
Social media needs to build on the best practices of the past though and ensure that its evolution is a positive one. There’s no reason why money making and ethics can’t go hand in hand here, however the easy route to a dystopian future in communication will be a hard one to resist. I hope my faith isn’t misplaced.
Thanks for the clarification! Great post!
Reblogged this on R&S Interactive .
Reblogged this on rachelkate1.
I am 9 years old and I use Instagram and facebook to promote my blog http://www.cross71.com I love that people can follow me and I love to follow them…..still using! Great post!
Thanks Hunter. Very pleased to see you’re using social media for what it was intended for. I’m sure your parents help you out too when it come to making sure you stay safe and connect with the right people.
You’ve got a great blog there too. I see you’re interested in racing. Have you seen the film Racing Dreams? I wrote a review of that for Movie Farm. Check out the review here: http://moviefarm.co.uk/2012/09/19/racing-dreams-2009-film-review/ If you’ve not seen the film, try and get a copy, I think you’ll like it.
Paul.
Thank you for the clarification, very informative post. I use Instagram and love it and did not think that they would be THAT stupid, however you do hear things nowadays that get you worried, I guess that’s the price of living in an information age. Perhaps it is even more vital nowadays to check the facts for yourself.
My Instagram is andi_photo
Thanks Andrea. Exactly my point, do your own homework and make a decision for yourself. 🙂
See you on instagram.
Reblogged this on jnkruse78's Blog.
Thank you for clarifying all the drama that was going on. I’m not too knowledgeable about Instagram but I learned a lot from your post and enjoyed reading it. It’s always good to learn.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Happy New Year.
I concur. People want everything in Cyber for free now and if they don’t get it, they’re outraged:)
Me too because ive got art tourettes
Thank your the clarification. I did hear they were losing some of their followers. But I guess that was all big buzz.. over simple rumors…
Reblogged this on musicdamal.
But it’s always to have good options ready.. I won’t quit either..
I thought the same thing. I love my instagram account. If I didn’t want people to see my pictures I wouldn’t put them on instagram OR facebook. duh.
I love Instagram for photos. And now for the videos I use Vine 🙂