Facebook Timeline - Are URL's Forbidden in PERSONAL Covers? I can't find a TOS against it.

Rashell

Hi Rashell,
Thanks very much for the Screenshot.

Are you able to give me the URL of the "Learn More" link?
(I don't think I can get that Pop-up to appear anymore)

That Pop-up says that we can't use the Cover area for "Banner ads or other promotion".
I'm not quite sure how to interpret that exactly.


Can you please give me your own opinion, on if adding a URL or @Twitter to the Cover of a Personal Profile is breaking their TOS?

I think that Facebook should better explain this somewhere.

Thanks.
-Andrew

Here's a free $10 billion dollar idea for Facebook:

They keep spending all this energy fighting off people's natural desires to promote their businesses... why don't they make a sister site called Bizbook and get it over with? Business stuff at Bizbook, social stuff at Facebook.

Problem solved.

No, the rules for Pages don't apply to Personal Timelines. As you've said, the Page rules are really specific. Facebook hasn't adopted or applied those rules to Personal Timelines - yet anyway. So, although it seems counter-intuitive, you can be more commercial on your personal page than you can on your business page. Go figure.

Neither of your covers violate FB's TOS for personal profiles. Both would violate the TOS for pages. "Follow me" is certainly a call to action.

I have see that someone have put the homepage twitter etc. adress on the profile pic,is this alowed?

Thanks to all above for this great information ...

Thanks information
a am newbie

Agreed, those covers are fine right now for your personal profile. My personal cover shot contains a URL whereas my page only contains imagery to meet the guidelines. There are many people utilising their personal profiles for promotional space. Standard no selling rules still apply to personal profiles too so you can't go all out in your personal cover shot(which you shouldn't be anyway!).

From a personal perspective I mainly connect with real world friends and contacts on my personal account so using the cover to market my business is not my top priority as the overwhelming majority should already know what I do and how to contact me if needed. That said I can see the value in it as your cover shot is publicly viewable by default.

This is the URL to the "Learn More" page from the Pop-Up window when you add a new cover photo
https://www.facebook.com/help?page=271112912913813

I even have my business logo on my Facebook timeline cover. And there's no problem about it.

I wonder if they will be cracking down on the businesses advertising by giving people cover images to use...

I know the Hunger Games movie site has a cover image generator to advertise the movie... and Angry Birds Space has been spreading their cover image pretty widely which has the url to their site.

Again the question is this alowed?
url etc on the profile pic?
Any tos for the pic?

Thanks for all the Feedback guys!

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@jenifer00:
Thanks. I agree that there seems not to be a strict set of rules for Personal Covers.
I do not honestly feel that those rules of Fan Page Covers apply also to Personal ones.

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@copilu0:
Thanks for the link!
It leads to the same page I posted:
https://www.facebook.com/help/timeline/cover

Reading that page carefully, Facebook says nothing against Website links, Contact Information, etc... appearing in the Cover area for Personal Timeline Profiles.

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@Rashell:
Thanks again for sharing your opinions with us.

The issue I see though, is that you are basing all your understanding of these "Rules" by this Screenshot Pop-up, which apparently appears only 1 time for a users account. (I think)

(The first time the Choose a Cover Photo)

There is no "Check this Box if you agree" either. So Facebook cannot take action against people based on some Temporary Pop-up like that.

To be honest, I didn't even remember seeing that, even after you posted that screenshot.


If Facebook made a TOS against URLs in Personal Covers, then I'm sure they would need to have that noted somewhere, like in the page of the "Learn More" link of your Screenshot.

I'm looking closely at the words Facebook chooses to use:

"This space isn't meant for..."
"Please do not use..."

I agree that Facebook wouldn't like us to advertise our URL in this area, but I do not think they are demanding that you can't.

Otherwise, they could state:

"You are not allowed to..." etc...


I know it can seem like that. But we are trying to figure out what is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN and not.

One may choose to put a URL in their Cover, without promotional intentions.
Facebook is a bit vague in regards to these guidelines.

Again, if it was against Facebook's TOS, they I believe that they must state this in a Clearly Visible, Static place that people can find/access. Not so?

I'm understanding what you are getting at, but I'm not sure if you are understanding what we are getting at here Rashell.



If Facebook Facebook DID make a definite rule against URLs in Covers, then guess what?
100 Million people will be breaking Facebook's TOS.

myfbcovers.com
addacover.com
coverphotobook.com
etc...

All these sites offer free downloads of pre-made Facebook Cover Graphics, that Millions of Facebook users upload to their Timelines.

ALL of these images are watermarked with URLs.

What will Facebook do?
Shut down 100 Million Profiles?

Or if Facebook chooses to close my Profile because of a simple URL, can't I complain:
"If you are going to close my Profile, are you going to take action against these people as well?: [100 links of profiles with URLs]


As I see it, Facebook probably didn't put those harsh rules in the TOS for a reason.
They know it will cause problems like what I just explained here.

They can't rightfully enforce their rules on just some, and not all their members, if all of them are "Infringing" in the exact same way.

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We aren't plastering Ads all over Facebook. We are making use of our "Personal Spaces".

People always could have, always did, advertise links on Facebook.
Nothing new, happens to any Social site.
That is expected in personal profiles.

It only becomes a problem when you start spamming in public areas, like Groups, Forums, Profiles of other people, etc...


Facebook gave us the option to be more creative with the Cover area, so we are doing so.

Some people consider their Website/Blog and important part of their life, their story, their purpose, so, why shouldn't they be able to share that their URLs in that Personal area?

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I look forward to hearing more opinions.

When there were riots in London the other Summer, lots of people joined in because others were doing it. Just because everybody does it, it does not make it right.
Sorry but if you had to ask the question in the first place, you already know you should not do it.

@Greenjackdavey:
I don't know why you guys keep posting: "Just because everybody does it, it does not make it right"

It isn't about if everyone is doing it or not.
It's about if Facebook has a TOS against it or not.

And as far as I see, they do not have anything written in their TOS against URLs in profiles.

You guys just keep avoiding these points, and keep coming weak arguments.


Where is the logic in that statement?

People only ask questions when they know something is wrong? :|


When I asked the question, I saw no TOS or Notice about restrictions of URLs in personal Profiles.

THEN Rashell pointed out this "Pop-up" to us.
Which again, is a little bit vague to me.


Like I said, I don't have to be promoting something to place a URL in my Facebook Cover.

You guys keep avoiding these points without a proper answer.

Rashell,

Your points seem all to be based around what is "Courtesy" or not.

As I have said before, Facebook and any other business, do not "Encourage" people to promote things on their personal pages.

Why? It does not profit Facebook.

That doesn't mean that they are forbidden from it.

If people were not allowed at all to promote themselves via their personal spaces, then that Social Network never would have become that successful or popular.

It's a give and take situation.
They want people to stay on their site and use it daily. Thus, they can't always enforce harsh rules.

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And where did Facebook say that you cannot place URLs or Contact information in Personal Profiles?

They simply advised that the Cover is not meant for Advertising.

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Pretty weak attack at me Rashell.
So you are accusing me here of creating this Topic just for self promotion.

After this point, I cannot take you seriously.

If I have a question about Facebook's TOS, why can't I ask it?
Just because I am a provider of Facebook Covers?

I did not post any URL of my Website or Service in my original Topic.
The images were visual examples for people to better understand what I am talking about.

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No not really... There is nothing wrong with my business model.

I am just the designer, I cannot be held responsible, if a Client asks me to design a Facebook Fan Page Cover containing URLs, while it is against Facebook's Policy.

The most I can do, is advise my Clients of Facebook's warnings, and provide them with URLs and Quotes of Facebook's TOS.

I don't want to be restricting the freedom of my Client (Personal Pages) without proper reason.
Thus I asked these questions.

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I've asked many questions/queries to Facebook. I have never gotten a reply from Facebook staff. (EVER)

What makes you think that I would get a proper reply there?
The only people that tend to reply there, as far as I see, are normal everyday users.

I am used to asking questions on the Warrior Forum. So why can't I ask here?

I always see people asking questions about the TOS of many other services, like PayPal, Hostgator, eBay, etc...

So why are you so offended by my questions?


Also, don't you think that "Facebook" is a better place to advertise my "Facebook Cover Design Service"?

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In any case, I will try asking my Questions to Facebook Staff/Help Center, and see if I can get solid answers there.

That would be great, but the only problem is that Facebook would sue them. (or try)

The same way that they made lawsuits against Lamebook.com, Failbook.com, etc...

Facebook isn't very friendly against potential competitors. They play very harsh.

I can understand the OP's question. It seems as though the big traffic power players these days (google, facebook, bing, etc) like to beat around the bush when it comes to their TOS. I don't understand why they can't be more specific and transparent. If they don't want you to put a url in your cover image, then they should be specific. If they can put out millions of lines of specific code, then they can at-least hire someone to write a more clairvoyant TOS

However, I do understand why they wouldn't want to have the URLs there. They sell advertising for that purpose.

But it would be a waste not to take advantage of every advantage Facebook allows - and thus I fully understand the OPs question.

You can't have any url's, no call to action, no information about the company like phone number etc, no arrows, no contact info, no reference to encourage sharing or links. No animated gif's size needs to be 851ps x 315px

Hope this helps

Valerie

Facebook have changed look of brand pages as like profile.
but i don't like this because i want along banner instead of cover photo .

@Rashell:
Ok, so I just noticed that you have edited your post to include more rants against me.

Doesn't matter.
Someone doesn't need to have a "Business" just to share a URL about their "Family Blog".

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Common sense, Observation, Facts, Statistics.

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No, Facebook did not state that URLs are disallowed from Personal Covers.
You are just interpreting their words as you like.

Not only did those "rules" you posted not mention anything about URLs, but those rules are also not reachable/find-able by me and mostly everyone else.

You can't seriously expect people to follow some "Invisible TOS" that you are trying to enforce.

I'm not surprised if Facebook programmed that long ago and "forgot" about it or forgot to update it.

The most recent and relevant literature would be that which is found in their TOS and Help pages.

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So, what about it?

I have not been a regular on WF for a long time. (At least before March)
Therefore, I've been doing many actions on here simultaneously.

Maybe you have the time to sit around these Forums all day, creeping around people's history and attacking them with non-sense, but I don't.

When I visit here, most times I just do all the things I need to do shortly after the other. (Reading, Posting, Paying for Subscription, etc...)

What's the big deal?


What's so bad about this?

Both the Client and I had mutual concerns about having URL or not in Personal pages.
So this Topic was posted to help me and anyone else with this question, to find a helpful answer.

Isn't that common sense enough for you?

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Oh really!?
And where did you get that information from?

How did you know whether this Client was purchasing a personal cover or not?
Where did he or I state that?

I wrote these above things to the Client, because I was unsure if the Cover would be used on a Personal or Fan Page Timeline.

So I just shared with him the information I know so far, concerning both.

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Yes, avoid the whole thread why? Because you don't like it?

Many people are thankful for this useful thread, as we can discuss opinions and facts on this unclear matter.


Do you think giving my Clients the both options are safer for them?

LOL!!!

I rather try to find the correct advice for them, rather than to let them pick and choose between using the URL in the Cover or not.

Maybe you have no concerns about your Clients (if any), but I do care about my own.


Not only that, it takes time to make a design with and without a URL, because the spatial arrangement of the elements in the design may need to be re-adjusted to suit both cases.

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What about it?
I just re-used (Pasted) the original Cover design images as examples.

Why would I waste time re-sizing the Cover to make it very small, when I want people to clearly see what I am talking about.

Those small examples in my "Warriors for Hire" page were specially made to fit neatly in 2 columns in that Topic.
They were made at that size for a reason.

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And I am glad for all the "sensible" replies I have gotten here so far.

Allot better than getting no replies from Facebook Staff.


I posted this topic on the official PayPal forums some weeks ago:
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/...443627#U443627

How many replies? 0!


Then I reposed something related to this, the following day on WF:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...idiculous.html

What did I get?
Lots of useful replies!

So I'm not going to waste time listening to your silly advice, telling me not to post on WF when I have a legitimate question.

WF works for me and for others, to get helpful answers and opinions.
It doesn't matter one bit to me what you think about my topic.

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Being referred back to the site doesn't mean that they are going to get a better answer there.

Did I get a better answer when I asked my question over at PayPal?

Nope, I got no answer at all...

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So you think that more people on WF are interested in having a Facebook Fan Page Cover, compared to the users on Facebook?

Probably only a small percentage of Warriors use Fan Pages for business.

I'm sure it would gather allot more interested buyers if I asked this question in the right places on Facebook.

it sure breaks their policy.. that's why you have about area under your profile photo and top cover photo.. it clearly states no url's, emails, etc.. as they also force you that you go and buy advertising which is obvious : ) with that term

Andrew,

Instead of arguing with people on this Forum and trying to justify what is or isn't allowed, the simplest solution is right in front of you.

Contact Facebook and ask if those covers are okay.

Then you can post what they said here.

People are using Facebook timeline just like banner ads and thought it is against facebook guideline but Facebook seems unaware about it. I personally feel that I will be using it as banner ad until I get a notice from Facebook