Facebook p0wns You
Oh Facebook, you devious little devil. What’s this new line in your Statement of Rights that essentially takes away the user’s ability to own and benefit from the content they generate? Wow. I personally always thought the ultimate beauty of Facebook, other than a clean design that did away with purple kaleidescope seizure-inducing backgrounds, was the idea that eventually a business model could be developed that allows Facebook AND its users to earn profits from individual content.
So much for Social Media 2.0.
It seems Facebook is having none of this “share the wealth” business. At least for now. According to an article on Mashable, Facebook is restricting user ability to sell statuses.
Funny, if you read the Statement of Rights closely you’ll notice classic doublespeak. At first glance, Facebook giveth. However, a few sentences later it taketh away: You OWN your content. (whew!) But Facebook has a worldwide royalty-free right to do whatever it wants with it. (p0wned!)
Now, don’t get me wrong. I like knowing my friends’ statuses are their own. Not someone else’s. But seriously. The idea that the user could profit from their own content is a revolution waiting to happen. Imagine brands creating opportunities for the Facebook user to integrate personal brand experiences into feeds, photos, and boxes to earn points, credits, dollars, or discounts for qualified referrals is a powerful one. Depending on the influence of the user, creating interesting content could be pretty lucrative.
That’s exponential social media.
EXPONENTIAL SOCIAL MEDIA. Write it down.
And let’s not overlook how this simple idea could be the affiliate marketing concept of tomorrow. A legitimate one. Gone would be the days of modern-day hucksters scraping other people’s websites for content or building 12 different link-juiced sites that promise outlandish sums of money just for clicking on a few links.
Think about it. All you’d have to do is create interesting, provoking, juicy content. Okay and have about 50,000 Facebook followers that actually care what you did last weekend. But let’s not get focused on logistics. The point is, as the creator of original content, ye Facebook user, you should be benefiting from the content financially. What makes you any different from People.com or CNN.com? Well, other than the partial nudity and embarrassing back seat sleeping shots.
You create content. And that content takes time. Time to plan. Time to create. Time to upload. Time to caption. Time to promote. Time to hide after friending your boss.
But yeah, when Facebook finally decides to fully monetize, why shouldn’t you get your cut? Facebook is zero without your content. Zilch.
Here’s how it works: Your life is lived in a branded world. Your friends are interested in your content. Your content can include brands. Brands pay money to get more customers. Brands prefer to get customers through trust and emotional association. Your friends trust and associate with you. They also want to keep up with you. Which is the ultimate in brand peer pressure.
You + your brands + your friends + your content = $$$.
Not to mention, knowing the content you upload as a user is tangibly valuable will be a key way for Facebook to maintain relevance as the internet evolves and users find they have less and less time to fritter away posting photos from last night’s pub crawl.
If Facebook evolved its current platform for a business model that allows users to make recommendations and include brand content, create their own personal brand mosaics, tag brands in their photos, and profit from the creation of successful brand fan pages, it would go a long way in cementing Facebook’s position. For at least another extra year or two. And with the new Facebook real-time search and the ability to have a more refined and timely search, the possibilities are staggering.
Sounds beautiful, but let’s face it. Facebook isn’t sitting indefinitely pretty. No one really expected MySpace to be dropped like a hot bowl of chili. But it happened. Because something was developed that had more relevance. And more legs. Giving users power through branded content and incentive-based profits is no doubt an idea with exponential value. For Facebook, for brands, and for users. It would be a win for everyone.
But for now it appears Facebook thinks it owns you. And your content. And any offspring you may conceive while engaged in any activity hereto posted on Facebook.
So when you get around to you might as well mark all your photos with: “©Facebook. All Rights Reserved.”
Yeah, right there. In the corner.
And can you make that font a little bigger?
Face it. Facebook p0wns you.
