Last Thursday Twitter founder Biz Stone divulged a new "tTrms of Service" for the fast growing mircoblogging site. I have to admit when I got an email from Biz Stone detailing the changes, I disregarded the email. Afterward, I thought about what "Terms of Service" actually meant. Now that the email had sparked my interest, I went back and read it.
The founders of Twitter decided to make changes to the "Terms of Service" because they now have a better understanding of how Twitter is used. The main aspects which were changed are ownership, advertising, APIs and SPAM. The two areas that caught my attention were ownership and advertising.
Twitter is allowed to "use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute" tweets. However, the tweets belong to the person who wrote them. This statement is pretty obvious. Twitter is social networking, and it is a forum to publicly say how you feel.
It states on Twitter's blog,"in the Terms, we leave the door open for advertising. We'd like to keep our options open as we've said before." This bothers me a little bit. I like Twitter better than Facebook because Twitter does not have annoying advertisements running on the side of the page. If Twitter were to have that same feature then you would not be able to see everyone's unique backgrounds. I love how Twitter has been able to stay untouched by ads. Although, I know Twitter will eventually use advertising. Advertising is a money maker. In the end, Twitter has to do what is best for their survival.
I highly doubt the addition of advertising on Twitter will hurt them Public Relations wise. People trust and love Twitter. The main characteristic that keeps tweeters coming back is the freedom to use Twitter for whatever platform they choose. The founders of Twitter know this and will "understand that it's not about the technology, it's about how we all use the service that matters most."
Check out Twitter's new "Terms of Service."
They want feedback so give it to them!!
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