Facebook terms and conditions: why you don't own your online life

Did you read the terms when you joined Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn? Oliver Smith explains how social networks effectively own your online content.

 When joining a social network, you are likely to spend more time considering which photo you will use on your profile than reading the lengthy terms of service document. And yet, off-putting though Facebook's 14,000-word terms of service and data use policy might be, it is a legal contract between you and the social network. Do you know what you've signed up for?

Last month, users of Instagram reacted with anger at proposed changes to the company's terms that would give the mobile photo-sharing app the right to use member's photos in advertising campaigns.

In some ways, the change was a positive step. It eschewed traditional legal language, instead using clear terminology to precisely explain what the company would and would not do with its members' content. But that clarity made obvious the lengths to which the company might go in order to monetise the free service. Even after Instagram had reversed its decision, removing the controversial elements from their new terms of service, some users still closed their accounts in protest.

What rights have users granted to online services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google? Does posting content on these networks mean forfeiting your ownership of your photos, for example?

A photo posted on Twitter remains the intellectual property of the user but Twitter's terms give the company "a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense)". In practice, that gives Twitter almost total control over the image and the ability to do just about anything with it. The company claims the right to use, modify or transmit it your photo any way.  

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Looking at photographs of yourself on Facebook is good for you, study finds

Facebook is good for you because looking at photographs of yourself is a way of dispelling bad moods and treating mental health issues, according to new research.  

 Dr Alice Good, of the University of Portsmouth, has found that almost 90 per cent of users of the social network access the site to look at their own wall posts and 75 per cent look at their own photos when they are feeling low.

She said that such "self-soothing" use of Facebook is beneficial to the user's mood, especially if they are prone to feeling low.

This contradicts previous research which suggests that looking at Facebook can be bad for your mental health.

The survey of 144 Facebook users found that people often use the social network to reminisce, using old photos and wall posts as a form of comfort.

Looking back at older photos and wall posts was the main activity and the one that made them happiest.  

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Facebook bullying: 19-year-old men are most frequent victims of trolling

A study has revealed that 19-year-old men are the biggest victims of online bullying, the majority of which takes place on Facebook.  

After Facebook, Twitter was the next most frequent face for bullying - or trolling - to take place.

The study revealed that 85 per cent of 19-year-old men had experienced some form of online bullying.

Of all the teenagers who said they had been bullied, only 37 per cent had reported it to the social network where it took place.

Only 17 per cent said that their first reaction would be to tell their parents, and just 1 per cent said it would be to tell their teacher.

Of those who told the study they had been bullied, 87 per cent said it had happened on Facebook, 19 per cent on Twitter and 13 per cent on BlackBerry Messenger.  

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Women's have-it-all fantasy often spells heartbreak

Facebook chief Sheryl Sandberg’s 'Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead' ignores the sorry fate of those who miss out on motherhood.   

 The difficulty with a successful woman setting out to write a book about work and ambition is that half her target audience won’t know what she’s talking about because they’re too busy trying to make ends meet. The other half will hate her because she’s successful.

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook and an Alpha female, is running this gauntlet right now, thanks to her controversial new book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.

I once spoke at a glitzy event in New York on much the same theme. It was sponsored by a clothing company, which planned to sell women’s officewear in the interval. While the Mrs Alphas were sipping their soya lattes and debating whether they really could have it all, I popped backstage and got talking to some of the sales staff.

Mainly Hispanic and white women from poorer boroughs, they told me they were lucky if the clothing company let them have three weeks off after they gave birth. They didn’t want to leave their newborns, but they had bills to pay. The new infant would either be left with a family member or placed in production-line daycare with as many as 100 other babies. In the industrialised world, the United States is the only nation without a paid parental leave policy. Instead, mothers are eligible for something called, unbelievably, “sickness and disability”.

I felt distinctly queasy as I returned to the podium to banter about the challenges of balancing a career and motherhood. Did the privileged women in that hall ever spare a thought for the weary mum of three handing them a fancy linen jacket to try on?    

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Why women constantly lie about life on Facebook

Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.

Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated or distorted what they are doing on social media once a month.

The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and embellished about an exotic holiday or their job.

The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their lives would seem “boring”, jealousy at seeing other people’s more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.

Psychologists tonight suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on social media, they can in fact “paradoxically” be left “more isolated”.

They also said that the “more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel”.

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Facebook is targeting abortion ads at young British women. Whatever your views, this is pretty crass

Many British women were startled when they woke up on New Year's Day to find their Facebook profiles had started advertising abortion providers to them. The ad in question, from American Abortion advisory website abortion.com, simply said: "Find An Abortion Provider Near You", as well as a US Freephone number. A click led to a mostly US-focused website, which lists a huge number of abortion providers throughout the US and just one provider in the UK, "Abortion support Network".

Some women targeted by the ad reacted with humour – one quipped to me: "Well, at least Facebook is also offering me wedding dresses at the same time, so it's giving me options." However, many who received the ad started to second-guess their lifestyle choices. What were they doing that made Facebook think they were in the market for a termination? Was it their lifestyle? Was something in their pictures or their statuses that flipped a switch that made an algorithm assume they were pregnant?

Now, I've got no problem with abortion providers advertising per se; but I'd still pay good money to find out exactly what search terms or keywords the abortion.com ad is looking for (sadly, they refused to comment for this piece when asked). When asked, Facebook declined to offer any information on the specific keywords, and issued a bullish statement about abortion advertising. A spokesperson told me: "Advertising of Post-Conception Advice Services (PCAS) is permitted under Facebook's rules, just as it is in print and broadcast media in the UK. Unlike other media, if people don't like an advert they see on Facebook they are able to dismiss it by clicking 'X' on the corner of the ad."

It's true that such advertisements are allowed on both print and broadcast media. Guidelines are laid down by the Committee of Advertising Practice. Indeed, Facebook are right that people who see such adverts on Facebook are able to dismiss the ads by clicking the X button and can even specify the reason that they no longer wish to see the advert; the options include "Against my views". There's also an option to hide a specific ad, or all adverts from that particular company.

Is that good enough? There's a key difference. If you see this advert on the tube, on a billboard, or hear it on the radio, it's not personal to you; it's not coming at you in what is supposed to be a personal and safe space. In contrast, plenty of people would be seriously upset by this Facebook ad; it's a safe bet to imagine women who have had abortions don't want to be reminded of it when logging on to share a picture or update a status. That's even leaving aside anyone who is pro-life, or deeply religious, people's parents or boyfriends seeing it and jumping to the wrong conclusions, that sort of thing. I also wonder just how many British women would require to be prompted by an ad, rather than doing a quick Google search – which brings up a wealth of free resources.

It strikes me this is a seriously mistargeted ad. My guess is it's a fairly crass social media intern in the US cynically assuming that a good time for the UK launch of their website is around New Year, and sending out a blanket barrage targeted at women under 30. Indeed, the targeting tells us more about the perceptions and prejudices of the advertiser than about the demographic they are going for. It's not cheap for them, either – a little research suggest an advertiser can pay as much as £3 per click for the search term "abortion" in the UK. If I were Facebook, I think I'd tighten up the rules around who sensitive adverts like this can target.

So, in short – if Facebook offers you an abortion and a wedding dress, it's not some brilliant algorithm working out you're pregnant; your dad isn't also being offered wedding rings and shotguns. It's just some ham-fisted but doubtless well meaning American patronising you.

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'Like' curly fries on Facebook? Then you're clever

‘Like’ curly fries? Then there’s a good chance you’ve got a high IQ, according to a Cambridge University project to discover what we unwittingly reveal about ourselves on Facebook.

The same is true about ‘liking’ thunderstorms, Mozart, and, rather bizarrely, Morgan Freeman’s voice.

But if you like your iPod, you’re probably dissatisfied with life, and if you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett, you’re shy.

A billion people now use the social networking site to keep in touch with family, friends, and passing acquaintances.

One function Facebook has is to denote that you ‘like’ certain things - be that a comment a friend has made, a book, an artist, or a feeling - by clicking on an icon.

But while you may think you are only advertising this facet of your personality to your ‘Facebook friends’, many people’s lax privacy settings mean they are visible to the world.

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Facebook’s killed the Carnival Queen, damn it

As British towns ditch their annual "uncool" Carnival Queen processions, Beverley Turner, in her first post for Telegraph Wonder Women, laments the loss of a decidedly asexual event for her daughters’ sakes.

The Carnival Queen, the blank-eyed, tiara-toting, lacy-gloved betrayer of womanhood is dead. No longer can she reign over our little girls in a silk sash, beckoning them from a bed of crepe-paper roses to collude in the mindless pursuit of waving from the bonnet of a Ford Mondeo. As theorganizers of Verwood’s summer parade solemnly announced yesterday, there would be no Carnival Queen this year. I rejoiced, punching a triumphant feminist fist. That defeated Salisbury town could suck-up the pain of another nail in this much-needed coffin: no more beauty pageant balderdash teaching girls to compete on looks alone. This, I thought, was a great day for my two daughters.... And then I remembered sexting.

We’ve come a long way since Verwood’s first Carnival Queen crowning of 1929 at which dozens of women clamoured to hold the coveted title. Evolving from religious celebrations (Whitsuntide) or Pagan holidays (May Day), our Carnivals may not be attracting young women to run for Queen, but they continue to showcase British culture. They epitomise an old-fashioned, often rural identity in Union Jack Tea Stands, galloping carousels, home-made cake stalls and Tombolas.

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Facebook, Google and Amazon join fight against cancer

Facebook, Google and Amazon have teamed up with Cancer Research UK to design a mobile game that will allow members of the public to help the search for new cancer drugs.

The project will allow smartphone users to play to investigate vital scientific data at the same time as playing a mobile game.

The first step is for 40 computer programmers, gamers, graphic designers and other specialists to take part in a weekend "GameJam" to turn the charity's raw genetic data into a game format for future so-called "citizen scientists".

"We're making great progress in understanding the genetic reasons cancer develops. But the clues to why some drugs will work and some won't are held in data which need to be analysed by the human eye - and this could take years," said Carlos Caldas at Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Institute.

"By harnessing the collective power of citizen scientists we'll accelerate the discovery of new ways to diagnose and treat cancer much more precisely."

After the GameJam, which runs in London from March 1-3, an agency will build the game concept into reality and the team plans to launch it in mid 2013.

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How to Fine-Tune Your Privacy Settings for Facebook Graph Search

Depending on your tolerance for personal exposure, you may love it or hate Facebook's new Graph Search. What makes it most interesting, and perhaps most insidious, is the way it's set up to let users mix and match search terms to make new discoveries. So you Like a random website? Big deal. What might a list of all the websites you've ever Liked say about you though?

Facebook Graph Search is coming, and now -- before it hits -- is a good time to tweak your Facebook privacy settings.

What is it?

Graph Search is a new search function within Facebook. It's not yet been officially launched, but it is available in Beta. Graph Search differs from existing Facebook search functions because instead of just indexing bits of information, it indexes a large number of connections between pieces of information.

For example, Facebook's search functionality now provides people, places and things. The initial phase of Graph Search will provide the relationships between people, places and photos as well.

Some Graph Search term examples, provided by Facebook on its website: "people who like cycling who are from my hometown"; "restaurants in London my friends have been to"; "photos I like"; and "music my friends like."

Essentially, with Graph Search you will be able to look up and get results for anything shared with you on Facebook, and others will be able to do the same with things you've shared with them.

What Is Indexed in Graph?

Content set to Public will be searchable. People will be findable based on things they've shared with you, including interests and items within their profile -- for example, friends who have shared their city with you, or friends whose city is public.
Photos will findable by you if you -- or friends -- have posted or tagged them. Others will see any photos they can normally see, including photos hidden from the timeline.
Your location tags will be searchable.

What's the Problem?

What's the problem with all this? There isn't one if you believe that searching for and finding connections is an integral part of the future of social networking.
However, if your attitude toward privacy runs a bit more on the old-school side, you can control some of this information, including who can see your current city. Control can include reporting or removing photo tags; deleting photos; and removing location tags.

Step 1: Set General Privacy Settings

Click on the Settings cogwheel-like icon at the top-right corner of your Facebook page. Use a Web browser on a computer for this -- it's easier.
Choose the Privacy Settings link in the drop-down menu, and click on the first Edit link labeled "Who can see your future posts?" Select the "Friends" choice.
This setting will limit the viewing of your posts to friends, and not friends of friends.
Tip: Your About tab on your Timeline is where your current city is stored.

Step 2: Review and Remove Posts and Tagged Items

Click on the Use Activity Log link adjacent to "Review all your posts and things that you're tagged in." It's in the same Settings area you visited in Step 1.
Scroll down the page and you'll see chronological activity that relates to you -- either instigated by you or by others.
Click on the Edit icon to the right of the activity.
In the case of content uploaded by you -- like photos -- choose Delete Photo.
Warning: Photos that are untagged but not deleted can still be found by others on Facebook.
Hiding a photo from your Timeline doesn't change who can see the photo.
Tip: Use the Shared With and On Timeline filters in the Photos section of the Activity Log to see items you've hidden from your timeline but that still might be viewable by others.
Use the Report/Remove Tag option within the Edit area to request photos be removed by friends. Choose "I Want this photo removed from Facebook" and a message will be sent to the owner requesting it be removed.
Use this option for requesting an un-tag in the Posts You're Tagged In section too.

Step 3: Limit Past Posts to Friends Only

Click on the link adjacent to "Limit the audience for posts you've shared with friends of friends or Public."
Choose to limit old posts to friends -- not friends of friends and not public.

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