For example, did you know that your Google + profile image will be downloaded to all the smartphones that download your contact info? I didn't either.

Dear Google, I like your services, I even drafted this post in Google docs, so I’m into it. Just don’t be that guy.

When Google + launched it’s beta version a few months ago, I decided to research  what kind of licensing rights users were signing away when posting photos on Google +.  In addition to scoping out the shot for personal empowerment as a photographer, I also wondered: as a brand, what kind of copyright considerations should you consider before launching a user generated content (UGC) campaign?

Long story short, you shouldn’t post any photos you don’t ever want to see on the front page of some other website, as Google + grabs worldwide rights in perpetuity to use and sub-license your photos. As an artist, I find it alarming that Google would be so brazen to just grab the IP of everyone who participates in their show. By doing so, Google is basically creating a huge royalty-free database of sub-licensable images that they can do whatever they want with, whenever and however they want, forever.

For context and comparison’s sake, I’ve outlined and explained a few licensing agreements from some major social networks:

Facebook:

“You grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (“IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.”

Tumblr:
“Subscriber shall own all Subscriber Content that Subscriber contributes to the Site, but hereby grants and agrees to grant Tumblr a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable right and license (with the right to sublicense), to use, copy, cache, publish, display, distribute, modify, create derivative works and store such Subscriber Content and to allow others to do so (“Content License”) in order to provide the Services”

Google +:
“By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.

You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.”

However, there is a grey area because they also say:
“11.1 …This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.”

What it means: Facebook can use your photos as long as you have them posted up, but they cannot sell or license them to third parties or do whatever they want with them in perpetuity. With Google + and Tumblr, however, they own the rights of your photos whether you still have your images up or not.

Mark Zuckerburg posted a response to the outcry over the terms of service, where he explained: “Our philosophy is that people own their information and control who they share it with. When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they’ve asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn’t help people share that information.”

What does this mean for brands?

From a brand perspective, this licensing is something to consider and pay attention to. If you are running a campaign culling UGC and user involvement, remember that unless you have specific fine print, you don’t have rights to the content either. If your users are active on social media sites, it’s safe to say that they’ve accepted the fact that they have given up their licensing rights to Facebook, but keep in mind that there might be the slight off chance that someone will learn about the fine print for the first time and get annoyed.

Take a look at one example of a brand that addressed this issue. Beer brand Stella Artois worked in additional language that ensures they can use UGC images and content freely in the future without penalization. This is smart on their behalf, but as a user, would you want to sign this?

“By submitting Content to this site, you: … (b) grant Anheuser-Busch an unlimited, perpetual, royalty-free, sub-licensable, transferable and irrevocable license to use, modify, or adapt the Content for any purpose whatsoever, including but not limited to incorporating the submission into content copyrighted by Anheuser-Busch, whether or not such Anheuser-Busch content is commercial in nature…”

Personally, I think if more people read the fine print, there’d be less photos being shared on popular social networks and UGC campaigns.  Let’s face it though – in the grand scheme of things, social networks command our attention and focus. If you aim to impress friends and garner user involvement and UGC, post away! As an artist and photographer, if your goal is to promote your own fine art photography with the intention of later selling those photos, be forewarned that those images could very well be used, regardless of your consent, feelings, and creative ownership.  Keep in mind that once you upload an image, granting any of these social networks non-exclusive use, you can no longer license that same image for exclusive use with anyone else.

While there is certainly a benefit in getting your photography out there and shared through social media, just remember: uploader, beware!

Apparently I was a good girl this year because Santa brought me a very nice present – a Kindle Fire! The hot new e-reader from Amazon is the latest in readers that also double as tablets. While it can easily be compared to the iPad, I prefer this little gadget because of its size and shape. It’s more fun reading young adult novels on the Fire than the iPad and I think most avid readers would agree with me on that one. While you can probably do a lot more on your iPad than your Kindle, let me just say that as a book community manager, the Kindle Fire is absolutely 100% the best device for me.

Why is this the best device for a book blog or community manager? Beyond the whole e-reading aspect, here are the apps that make this my recommended device:

HootSuite app – I often find myself creating Twitter and Facebook content when I’m in the middle of reading a book. Now with the Kindle Fire, I can schedule updates via HootSuite as I’m reading books and check up teen readers’ feeds to confirm what I know.

IndieBound Reader – My New Year’s resolution is to support small businesses as much as possible, which is hard to do when you buy all your e-books from an online site like Amazon. But never fear, the IndieBound Reader app – courtesy of Android- is here!

With this app, you can download e-books from Google Books from participating independent bookstores. While they may not have as many deals as Amazon or as wide a selection, you’re still supporting locally owned bookstores and giving back to the community.

Downloading this app and other Android apps is easy. Just follow these instructions to unlock your Kindle Fire. To get the IndieBound Reader app, open up “Silk” on your Fire and go to this page, click download, and finish the installation instructions from the link above and you’re done!

GetGlue and GoodReads – Use GetGlue to check into the books you’re reading, and GoodReads to keep track of your progress. I use both for different reasons, but if there’s one thing I know, readers LOVE displaying their reading progress. Both these apps are good for keeping up with friends and community members on their reading status while slyly showing off your own.

Tumblr – More and more book blogs and publishers are extending their reach via Tumblr. From what I’ve seen, most book-minded people use it for graphics or reviews and less as actual blogs, but that doesn’t make it any less fun or entertaining.

Box.net – We here at Affinitive just recently moved our files over to Box.net and I was thrilled to learn that there’s a Box app for the Kindle. Now I have no excuse to get my work done. Use it to upload and store your files, images, and whatever else you need. I like using it to store photos or documents that I later upload to my Tumblr.

StumbleUpon – I love discovering new book blogs or communities and sometimes the best way to do that is to just surf the web. There’s no better tool for mindless web surfing than Stumble Upon. Using the keyword settings, now I can aimlessly explore and browse books, blogs and publishers’ websites inbetween reading sessions.

That’s it for me, but I’d love to hear what apps you’re downloading to your Fires. Share in the comments!

Reddit 

Andrew says, “I like it when sites use humorous videos in their error pages.”

Foursquare 

Patrick says, ”I’d be sad too if I were the Mayor of broken links.”

Design Bomb 

Katie says, “My favorite fail mascot is from Design Bomb because of its design and fun wording – ‘Holy Funk Ship You Just Got 404′d On Son!”

The New Yorker 

Andrew says, “The New Yorker. Because I am classy like that.”

Hootsuite 

Erica says, “This fail page makes me laugh even though I am angry when Hootesuite fails, I mean how can you be mad at the cute owl on the milk carton?”

Affinitive
 

Bob says, “Because it’s ours (and I created it). ”

Tumblr  

Christina says, “Back when Tumblr used to have a sense of humor, they adopted a mascot that the Oatmeal created for them. Since then they’ve reverted back to their default message, even though their servers still crash like the world is ending.”

Bit.Ly 

Patrick says, “This is beyond a fail, the fish is dying and the bird is waiting patiently. Grim.”

Coco Twitter Fail Whale  

Erica says, “It’s a bearded Conan riding the Twitter whale–do I have to say why this is genius? LOL, 404 error pages should make you laugh BEFORE you scream at the inanimate object known as your computer, this does that well.”

Lockerz

Adam says, “This one is just great!”

Git Hub  

Rob says, “Star Wars reference and an octocat mascot?  What’s not to like?”

Twitter Fail Whale 

Christina says, “I was inspired to write a haiku, titled “fail.” It goes like this:

The cutesy whimsy

Does nothing but stoke my ire

Why won’t you just work?!” 

Less than 10 months ago, I remember creating massive PowerPoint presentations explaining exactly who, what, and WHY platforms like Twitter were going to become key social platforms for brands to engage with consumers – especially when loyalty and retention are part of the brand’s goals and objectives. Now we are getting requests for Twitter and Facebook strategic proposals on a daily basis. The tide has definitely turned.

According to a recent study by Burson-Marsteller, Twitter is the top Social Media platform for Fortune 100 companies. Not a huge shocker if you work (live! breathe! all of the above!) the space, but nice to hear tools that you believe, as a marketer, to be viable if properly adopted to begin to emerge as frequent parts of  brands’ strategies.

What is even more interesting is when you drill the reported Fortune 100 numbers down:

• 54 percent of the Fortune 100 have a Twitter presence (Anyone have that list? Mashable? Couldn’t find it on their Mega Lists)
• 32 percent have a blog
• 29 percent have an active Facebook Page.
• only 17 percent use all three (blog, Facebook, Twitter)
• 94% of companies who use Twitter use it for news/announcements, 67% for consumer service and 57 per cent for deals and promotions
• average Twitter account has 5,234 followers,  median is 674 followers.

At companies using only one of these tools, 76 percent of them use Twitter as the tool of choice. Whew. In some ways this makes me want to dance around in circles and sing “I told you so” like a 4th grader…but mostly this just makes me want to work harder to ensure that all of our current, future, past, potential clients step into the space with purpose AND best practices.

As the best practices for the space continue to get defined and redefined by the people who actively engage in them (as users,  brand leaders, marketers…), the ownership over social marketing as a strategy and the social mediums that fall underneath it’s umbrella enters into a huge gray area.

As the popularity has ensued, the land grab for control over social marketing has hit full swing.

In what can perhaps best be analogized as a social marketing gold rush,  marketers and agencies across the board are racing to own that space within their existing (and future) brand relationships. Simultaneously brands are racing to get started in social marketing (for the most part) and aren’t sure which direction to go.

Who best owns Social Marketing? PR? Digital? A boutique agency? Internal brand managers and team members?

While there is clearly no universal answer – despite what we’d all love to think – there are a few key items on the list that seem to be basic rules of thumb that most brands simply can’t ignore.

So without further ado, let me present my list of Social Marketing tidbits for thought, the growing/morphing changing stream of practices, ideas, and 411s that go into most of my brainstorms:

1. People are talking about you on Twitter… and likely on Facebook, and definitely out there in the big, bad blogosphere. And will talk about you. They are asking for you to join the conversation.
2. The person (or persons) communicating on behalf of your brand have to really know your brand.
3. But they also have to really know the medium…and the medium’s user base.
4. There are rules to engagement in all platforms – you cannot go into this blindly as a brand. You have a lot more at stake than Joe Schmo’s anonymous testing of the waters.
5. There is a true strategy to using social mediums properly. Frequency of content, types of content, ways to advertise (if you should advertise?), metrics and measurements for success, best type of communication, even the lingo is often strategic.
6. The worst thing you can do is feed all your blog posts into your Twitter, all your Twitter posts into your Facebook, and all your Facebook status updates back into your Twitter.  Sure you want to cross-link and have an integrated strategy, but each audience deserves to be communicated with directly.
7. Transparency. (Always, always, always).
8. There is a major debate with regards to the ethics of paying bloggers, tweeters, etc. Be sure to know where/how your social marketing team approaches this (and know the backstory).
9. Just because [insert cool brand name here] and Oprah are on Twitter doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be. Enter all mediums with a plan and with purpose.
10. Chances are your legal department is going to need a full-fledged tutorial on whichever platforms you choose.
11. Don’t give up if you’re facing some legal challenges. You can work through them. We have navigated through (and prevailed!)  highly regulated industries and it is worth it.
12. The number of “fans” and “followers” and “friends” your brand has only matters if you are actively engaging them with content that makes sense, that they want to consume, in ways that they want to consume it, and in ways it best fits in with your overall marketing mix.
13. Debating social strategy internally? Starting with Forrester’s P.O.S.T. analysis really is a good way to get the ball rolling.
14. The blessing (and curse!) of online is how fluid and flexible it is. Make sure you are, too.
15. If the people doing your strategy aren’t active personal users of the platforms – mega red flag. Find their accounts, verify they actually are practicing the buzz worthy mantra they are preaching.

I’m sure I’m missing many on the list. So, marketers, tweeters, bloggers, strategists, tumblrers, Facebookers, social media enthusiasts, what do YOU think?