The quick rising in popularity of Instagram has suddenly gotten a lot of its users a bit paranoid and for good reason. Instagram’s choice of “confusing” language has caused a lot of uproar in the social media world.
Instagram stated that they would be able to use or advertise your photos without your permission. Social media users put a lot of trust in these sites and once their trust is lost, it can sometimes be hard to regain.
The wording that caused the debate stated, “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.”
The conditions also stated “a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos, and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.”
“It became clear that we failed to fulfill what I consider one of our most important responsibilities – to communicate our intentions clearly,” stated Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder.
The site had no significant drop in users despite rumors of users boycotting the site.
As of January 16, the new terms of service is supposed to come into effect. So let’s hope they get it right this time because if we take a photo that is worth money, we sure would like to get paid for it.
Facebook bought Instagram in April of 2012 and has over 100 million users. Has this influenced your use of Instagram in any way?
Stephan Boehringer is the CEO of Get The Clicks, a web marketing company. Stephan has over 20 years of experience in the field of web marketing, and has been a speaker and consultant for many years. Stephan is passionate about web marketing and helping their clients be the best they can be.
Stephan Boehringer graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.