In a tiny clause under the “Terms of Agreement”, before clicking ‘I Agree’, it states that all content uploaded through a certain social network belongs that specific social network (or something along those lines), therefore giving them the right to monetize it.

This infographic created by MyCube puts into perspective approximately how much money social networks are making from the content their users’ are providing.

And in 2010, the first in line on the money-making social-networking bandwagon—surprise, surprise—Facebook, for US$1.86 billion. This is followed by YouTube at US$945 million; MySpace at US$288 million; LinkedIn at US$243 million, and Twitter at US$45 million.

Content that users create adds another page to the social networking site, which leads to more ads for the advertisers—and the potential of more clicks. This only leads to more advertisers thinking of buying ads on the social network.

Those who especially suffer from this are most likely artists, in particular photographers; they have to submit to the decree of social-networking sites—or not use them at all.

There is, however, an upside to this grapple. Users are more connected on these social platforms, and artists and photographers gain more publicity through friends, and friends of friends, and so on.

So in terms of “it’s not what you know; it’s who you know”, should users own their own content, or is connecting with people more important?

Click to enlarge


[via The Next Web]


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