Outraged over Instagram’s privacy changes? Here’s how to kill your account
On Monday the mobile photo-sharing service Instagram, now owned by Facebook, announced a major overhaul to its terms of service, stating it has the perpetual right to sell its users’ photographs without payment or notification.
Taking effect January 16, 2013, the new policy says it will have the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, “which would effectively transform the Web site into the world’s largest stock photo agency,” as CNET notes.
The dry language in the new Terms of Service may be confusing to some users, but essentially it states the company may accept payment to in exchange for the use of a person’s username, likeness, photos and other data for sponsored content or promotions, CBS News writes.
“That means that a hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could write a check to Facebook to license photos taken at its resort and use them on its Web site, in TV ads, in glossy brochures, and so on — without paying any money to the Instagram user who took the photo,” CNET writes.
Also worth noting, CNET adds, is if Instagram users continue to upload photos after January 16, 2013, and then delete their account after the deadline, they may have granted Facebook an irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity.On forums such as reddit, users complain this new policy gives Instagram and Facebook too much power over a user’s photos.
Remarking on the public nature of Instagram’s service, one commenter writes, “Public is fine and all, but when someone uses something to make money, you’d think the original creator (if you want to call Instagramming creating), should have a say in it.”
Deleting your Instagram account but saving your photos
The revamped privacy policy has caused massive backlash among many Instagram users, and some have stated they plan to delete their accounts. But it’s not a simple process, Digital Journal found out.
In order to kill your Instagram account, you might want to download your photos first. A service such as Instaport can download your entire Instagram photo library in just a few minutes, as Wired notes.
You then need to notify Instagram you plan to delete your account by going here. Realize, though, Instagram can’t reactivate deactivated accounts and you will not be able to sign up for Instagram later with the same account name.
Instagram boasts more than 100 million users and 58 photos are uploaded to Instagram everysecond. In April 2012, Facebook bought the photo service for $1 billion.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Facebook floats on stock market May 17, will be valued at $100 billion
by JohnThomas Didymus (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)
Facebook, the world’s largest social network, is expected to go public on May 17. The online giant is expected to be valued at $100 billion. Analysts say that Facebook’s is the most anticipated stock offering from Silicon Valley since Google in 2004.
The May 17 date, according to TechCrunch, is subject to SEC approval of relevant paperwork, including those relating to recently purchasedInstagram.TechCruch reports Facebook is expected to raise $10 billion from its initial public offering of shares, though it may be a smaller sum. But the IPO will also depend on approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Examiner reports that Facebook valuation reflects current levels of trading in the secondary market and also matches a report on how Facebook won over Instagram.
The flotation will make Facebook among the largest public companies in the world with companies like McDonald’s, Amazon.com and Visa.According to a sources, “Investors want as high a price as possible so that the secondary market won’t look like a problem.”
TechCrunch reports that “with 2.51 billion fully-diluted shares outstanding, the valuation desired would price the company at around $40 a share.”
According to Daily Mail, the world’s largest social network had very humble beginnings. It began as a dorm room project for a Harvard dropout, Mark Zuckerberg, but has since grown and reached the top in less than a decade.
According to Facebook’s preliminary filing, the company’s net income rose 65 percent to $1 billion in 2011, with a revenue of $3.7 billion.
Valued at $100 billion, double the value of Hewlett-Packard, Facebook’s IPO will be bigger than that of any dot-com company expecting to go public, Daily Mail reports.
This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]
Review: Postagram an intuitive simple way to send iPhone photos as postcards
Say you got some great photos on your smartphone. You enjoy posting them on Twitter, Facebook, sending them as email attachments. But what if you want to go retro and send a pic as a postcard. Sounds ludicrous and difficult, right?
Nope. Now there’s a new iPhone app called Postagram, which lets you send photos straight from your phone to any address in North America. You can send the photos as greeting cards complete with a custom message. Each photo you send to an address will cost you $1.
Here’s the catch: you need an Instagram account because Postagram only recognizes pics you posted on that app. Instagram is a Flickr-type iPhone app allowing you to share pics with friends, adding filters and captions quite easily. Available free, Instagram has become a viral hit, attracting more than 3 million members.
It’s a pain for some users to have to be part of Instagram to use Postagram, so I can see that being a major roadblock to winning over skeptics and iPhone newbies.
I tried out the app, since I’m an Instagram user. I chose a photo of my father and aunt, and with Postagram easily inputted the address and name details. A custom message let my dad know the postcard was offering a personal touch. I added my credit card info, clicked SEND and within seconds I got an email confirming the postcard of my pic was being sent to the address.
It’s important to note the photo you use should be cropped to fit the 3 inch by 3 inch pop-out form used in Postagram postcards. You can crop it on Instagram before using the pic for Postagram. In around 8 days, my parents received the postcard and they gushed over the quality (and surprise) of the photo. All for $1. And I could do the same with a postcard being sent to the US. Doesn’t it even cost more than that to mail something to the States from Canada?
I can picture myself getting addicted to this app. For only $1, I can send my poetry friends pics of themselves rockin’ the mic, or I can send my work a pic of us at our Future of Media event. But I know I’ll soon be asking myself, “Why does the world need postcards, in the age of Flickr and Facebook?” There’s something powerful about holding a real photo and perhaps framing it above the mantle; online pics might be more convenient, but they don’t carry that same value, that tactile feel.
Have you tried Postagram or similar apps? What do you think?
This article was previously posted on DigitalJournal.com
Photo courtesy Rochelle Silverberg