Before you accept, please read this Terms and Conditions.

Does anyone actually read the terms and conditions?

They're everywhere on the internet. Whatever you sign up for has their own set of terms and conditions. Like the small print in a contract, they are often forgotten about or slyly worded  into tricking you into a false sense of security. In terms of social networking, sites have their own terms and conditions to warn their users of consequences and rules of the site. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites on the Internet today. 

Facebooks terms and conditions uses a lot of fancy words which are quite convincing in making you believe they are only after your safety on the web, one of the first lines you read is ''Your privacy is very important to us''. Obviously it is, as our private details are what attract advertisers. Facebook uses our details and what we write on Facebook to sell to advertisers. They also look at our activity on Facebook to see what we like and what we don't, so they know who to advertise their products too which would be most successful. 

Under the subheading ''Registration and Account Security'', number 7 claims:

''You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.''

Ever got a random phone call asking if you were home and were you interested in Sky TV and did you want to upgrade? Yet you've never contacted Sky and have no idea how they got your details?

Well, your Facebook account is the answer. 

Safety

We do our best to keep Facebook safe, but we cannot guarantee it. We need your help to keep Facebook safe, which includes the following commitments by you:

1. You will not post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.
2. You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our prior permission.
3. You will not engage in unlawful multi-level marketing, such as a pyramid scheme, on Facebook.
4. You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.
5. You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.
6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.
8. You will not develop or operate a third-party application containing alcohol-related, dating or other mature content (including advertisements) without appropriate age-based restrictions.
9. You will follow our Promotions Guidelines and all applicable laws if you publicize or offer any contest, giveaway, or sweepstakes (“promotion”) on Facebook.
10. You will not use Facebook to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.
11. You will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working or appearance of Facebook, such as a denial of service attack or interference with page rendering or other Facebook functionality.
12. You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Statement or our policies.

These safety policies seem completely fair and easy to follow. However, people still find it appropriate to use Facebook as a weapon. There have been many incidents involving cyber bullying which have led people, mainly younger children to resort to drastic measures, sometimes even suicide. Hate pages and 'trolls' are a problem which has recently hit headlines. 

If I were to be the next Mark Zuckerberg and create a massive social networking site, my terms and conditions would be slightly different. Instead of using advertising as the main way of collecting profit from the website, I would charge each member 50p/economic equivalent (this site is global) when they sign up, and that's the only payment you have to make. I would involve advertising but only when extra features are used on the site, such as viewing and sharing videos, I would allow advertisements to be played before the video, similar to YouTube. 

My Terms and Conditions:

1. You will not use bullying or intimidation towards another user.

2. You will use your real name or the name in which you are known. 

3.You will not use a picture of someone you do not know to pass them off as yourself.

4.You will not use this site to post photographic or videographic material that glorifies any act of violence. 

5.You will only post photographic or videographic material with the person in the materials permission. 

6.You will not be misleading with the information you give - i.e giving the wrong age. 

7.You will not create another account in someone else's name.

8.You will not create any group pages or club pages intimidating or discriminating against any other person. 

9.You will not use extreme profanity 

10.You will not express racist, sexist, homophobic, prejudice or any discriminating views of any kind towards another user. 

11.You will not use sexually explicit/pornographic language or photographic/videographic images. 

On the grounds of ownership and copyright, as soon as you upload any photo or video onto the site, Facebook have the right to do what they want with it without your say. Most recently, the application ''Instagram'' changed their terms and conditions in that they have the right to use anyone's material in their advertising campaign. In other words, your online life is not yours to own.