This post will serve a little bit as a PSA for bloggers and shop owners. Please use the icons to the left of the post to share this with people who you know might need it!
Facebook is apparently dropping the hammer on improper use of their logo. Take a look at this post post deleted, which is from someone who had her Etsy shop taken down because she was selling custom designed Facebook logos.
I know many of you own Etsy/design shops so I wanted to get this post out quickly so you could re-evaluate your situation. The person referenced above did get a warning email but could not get a hold of anyone in customer service before she got her shops simply removed once and for all.
If you get a warning from Etsy about this, or anything similar, remove ALL content relating to the warning immediately. Do not wait for customer service to clarify. You will get your shop taken down if you ignore these warnings.
For clarification on what you can and cannot do, see the following pages:
• Facebook Logo Usage
• Twitter Logo Usage
• Pinterest Logo Usage
• Google/G+ Logo Usage
• YouTube Logo Usage
I have grabbed the proper icon examples from the pages linked above and put them in an easy to grab set. Download the image below (or print screen then paste in Paint or something) and use the icons as you wish. Just don’t do anything other than re-size and re-order them and you’ll be ok. Also, keep the dimensions at least 32px each.
So yes, all of the icons on my site are non-compliant. I am ok with this because once I get one warning, I will fix them. Also, I am in control of my site, so no one else can shut me down. If you run an Etsy shop or a blog on Blogger, you can be shut down at any time. The reason for this is that those companies are responsible for hosting your site/shop and THEY can be sued by the social media companies for having improper logos published.
I assume any of the networks could shut down your profile if they make the connection between the two, but as of right now, they appear to be only going after people who are directly profiting from the sale of their logo.
Thanks for sharing my post! It is, indeed, a cautionary tale.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I’m sorry it happened to you and hope that it at the very least helps others.
WOW. Thanks for the heads up – and I feel for all involved. If this becomes a bigger issue for the bloggers down the road, could you list a few compliant social media sets so we know what we can change to? Thanks!
Ginny
Unfortunately the only “compliant” social media icons are the ones shown in the links in this post. I will get them all together though for easy usage soon.
Ok, I have added a little set to the post. Thanks for the idea!
Thank you! I really appreciate you helping us with this!
No problem! Happy to help.
Wow – who knew! Thanks for letting us know!
No problem! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Ugh I totally have non-compliant social media buttons and it took me FOREVER to figure out how to set them up. I cringe at the thought of having to change them.
I think they are only going after people who are selling the icons. So as of right now, I’m just advising that people are aware of it. Hopefully it never gets to where they are sending bloggers letters.
It looks the post reference (Etsy shop owner) has been removed from her site? It does not load, or shows as a 404?
Ah, ya it looks like she removed it. Could be a legal reason? Basically she had Etsy shut down her shop for creating customized FB icons and selling them through her store. They sent her an email warning but she was hoping for further clarification. While waiting, they shut her store down for good.
Wow! I discovered this over a year ago when designing my blog, and I’m so surprised it is finally becoming a “thing” that people know! So much easier to simply use the brand icons they provide. We wouldn’t post about Coca-Cola and make our own version of their logo for the post, would we? Thanks for spreading the information.
This is so helpful! I really want to change mine, but I’m unsure of how to do so. I’m currently using the Simple Social Icons widget, and am not really comfortable working in HTML, minus a few small tweaks here and there. Any suggestions for a widget that allows you to put the official logo in? Thanks so much!
Hi April! I just took a peek at your site and it looks like you go them placed ok. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi Zack, thank you for checking into it for me! I did figure out how to do it in a text widget. I’m still working out how to space the margins a bit more, but otherwise am happy with how it turned out. Thanks again for posting this important info!
Great! The very basic method I use to create space between images is to add a tiny image that matches your background (so it will literally be unseen) that acts as a space. So you’d probably use an image with dimensions of 10×25 pixels or something close to that. Hope that helps!
Great post…thank you! (sent over by Amy Lynn Andrews)
I don’t mean to be nit-picky, but I wondered if you noticed that your graphic says “comlpiant” instead of compliant.
Hey I had one out of 2 correct! Thanks for pointing that out, I fixed it and now I won’t look stupid anymore!
Nice post, but at top of this page you still use the non compliant logo’s 😉
Yes, and if you had read the entire post, you would have read the line where I clearly state that I am aware that I am using the wrong logos: “So yes, all of the icons on my site are non-compliant. I am ok with this because once I get one warning, I will fix them.”
ah, i read through it, but must have missed that line 🙂
either way, nice post
Thank you so much for this info! I’m trying to follow your instructions and am using a mac and loading into blogger. Would you suggest I just crop out each image? Do you happen to have them separately anywhere already? I originally thought I’d go through the links you posted to the social media sites but I am not savvy enough to pull together the twitter one and gave up after that! Oh the joys of being a blogging newbie. Thanks for any advice you have!
No prob!
Yeah, crop out each one. I don’t have the individuals uploaded.