Instagram Public Outcry

DAILY DOT COM - Instagram is extending an olive branch to its users following the announcement of changes to its Terms of Service.  The changes seemed to give the photo sharing site the right to put users’ photos in ads…without payment or notification.

It's a move that would effectively transform Instagram into the world’s largest stock photo agency.  Disgruntled users immediately took to other social networking sites to voice their outrage, including starting up a #BoycottInstagram Twitter.com.

The company backtracked, after the uproar, and clarified that it has no plans to put users' photos in ads.  In a blog posting Instagram said in part:

The language we proposed also raised question about whether your photos can be part of an advertisement. We do not have plans for anything like this and because of that we’re going to remove the language that raised the question. Our main goal is to avoid things like advertising banners you see in other apps that would hurt the Instagram user experience. Instead, we want to create meaningful ways to help you discover new and interesting accounts and content while building a self-sustaining business at the same time.

The blog goes on to note that users still own their content and the only photos that might be used as part of an advertisement is your profile picture...not one of the hundreds of pictures you may have posted of your child.

That said, Instagram maintains that it was created to become a business and would like to experiment with various forms of advertisements to make money.  As of now, the free service has no way to do that --currently Instagram doesn't run any ads.

Facebook paid $715.3 million for Instagram in September and said then that it planned to integrate Instagram into its ad-serving system.

The new policy takes effect January 16, 2013 and some Twitter users still vow to cancel their Instagram accounts. They complained that the new terms would essentially let the service sell people's photos for ads – despite Tuesday’s clarification from Instagram.

Will you delete your delete your account?  If so why?  Leave your comments below.