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As Consumerist reported over the weekend, Facebook has altered their Terms of Service (TOS), removing a few important lines:
You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.
You can view the current TOS here.
By removing these lines, and these actions paraphrased by Consumerist as "We can do anything we want with your content. Forever." you can imagine the firestorm it brought upon the blogosphere and on Twitter.
But it wasn't just the social media nerds and privacy enthusiasts raising hell and cancelling their accounts, the story was picked up by the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times and LA Times.
The response from Facebook? Way too late.
The original post on Consumerist went live at 6:14 p.m. EST Sunday according to the time stamp. However, it took Zuckerburg until 2:09 p.m. today to respond on the Facebook blog. Another reponse from the Facebook team was given to The Industry Standard.
With the speed that social media news travels (even on the weekends) bad press like this warrents a much swifter response. I would imagine Facebook employs a team that monitors this stuff, so why not get a statement out Sunday night?
Regardless of how timely their response was, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly a company can damage all of their goodwill capital. Once the ultimate social media darlings, Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg have to be reeling with this backlash, especially coming on the heels of a recent settlement being leaked.
Even after the damage control responses were sent out, the Twitterati were overwhelmingly thumbs down to the TOS change, Zuck's response and Facebook in general. Check it out for yourself.
Have a take on the TOS debacle or did you cancel your Facebook account? Let us know in the comments or find me on Twitter.
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1 Comment so farOne Response to “Facebook Responds: Too Little, Too Late?”
They missed the boat on the free spirit of the Internet and social networks. Of course, they're not free, but leaders in the industry should strive to honor the value and intent of the Internet. A legal response couldn't be expected within the first hour, but some response was possible in the first - hour - even something with empathy and not necessarily commitment.