July 01, 2008

Reach Singapore violates Facebook Terms of Use

Choong Yong said:

Think about the money spent and the media coverage on the new Reach Singapore [Facebook] profile, I wonder what happens when Facebook discover this violation and terminates the account.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Another instance of Singapore government jumping onto the new media wagon, and looking silly and ill-prepared in the process. One wonders how much of taxpayers' money has been wasted by Reach Singapore to create and publicize such a Facebook profile that violates Facebook's Terms and Conditions."

Link

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on June 30//10:21pm and published by jseng, shianux :: 4016 reads | trackback (2)
Comments 14

Trackback from Facebook's Terms of Use may just be a guideline. :

After all, not just Reach Singapore has Facebook account. Other worldwide organizations--for example: UNICEF Youth Voice, National Federation of Cypriots in the UK, and International Karate-Do Goju-Kai Association--do have their own Facebook profiles...

Sheesh. When the govt tries you complain. When it doesn't try you also complain. What's up with ya?

While he's at it, he can fault MOS and St James for setting up accounts in violation of FB's T&C too. (In addition to Anonymos_X's better examples)

kormmandos.wordpress.com

There is a vast difference between Facebook Profiles and Facebook Pages.

For example, both Unicef and Ministry of Sound are correctly set up as a Facebook Pages:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Unicef/8950444930
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ministry-of-Sound-Official/5763544839

In contrast, Reach Singapore is wrongly set up as Facebook Profile:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1195460595
which essentially violates Facebook's terms and conditions.

Just click on the above links to have a feel of the differences, and you'll see how Reach Singapore has got it wrong.

Precisely. They should have set up a Page.

I wonder if this is another case of not being savvy but trying too hard without reading first.

Posted by CelluloidReality* on 1 July, 2008 - 1:08pm

Hey presto, "Reach Singapore"'s profile has suddenly turned into "Ho Chee Har"!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1195460595

So all of a sudden, "Reach Singapore"'s 351 friends find that their private information has been divulged to "Ho Chee Har", whom they had never befriended.

Trackback from www.choongyong.com:

The name of the profile was no longer “Reach Singapore”. It has now become “Ho Chee Har”....

I seriously do not thing that there is any problem with having a Reach Singapore facebook. Think about it, the government is trying its best to engage the citizenry. We should not be cynical and put down such efforts. Conversely, we ought to commend them on such efforts.

I think Choon Yong might have made a gross error in assuming that taxpayers' money is spent on launching a Facebook account. I think the event was actually a Roving Exhibition that was launched at HDB Hub and eventually to be roving around different locations in Singapore. There are other features in the exhibition besides the Facebook account.

Then again, another point to note is... as Facebook users, we would know that the cost of setting up a Facebook account is virtually zero. So I would say the point mentioned by Choon Yong on taxpayers money is totally invalid.

Posted by Anonymous* on 1 July, 2008 - 5:08pm

Anon,

I agree that it's a positive step for feedback. However, they should have done due diligence. This sort of error is quite elementary leh.

Posted by CelluloidReality* on 1 July, 2008 - 9:44pm

feedback? the government doesn't really want feedback... it only wants people to think it wants feedback. when was the last time the government really listened to the people rather than to themselves and their own appointed experts to tell them what they want to hear?...

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 1 July, 2008 - 10:47pm

Forgive and forget. Let's move on!

Posted by * on 1 July, 2008 - 10:50pm

forever complain...
must be like malaysia...once in a while claim poke backside

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 2 July, 2008 - 4:03am

MOS's (Singapore) FB profile cannot be found now.
St James' facebook profile is still available though...
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=703572283
kormmandos.wordpress.com

No worries, St James and MOS Singapore's groups are still alive and highly active. :)

St James (645 members): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4778091935

MOS Singapore (875 members): http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2225292271

Posted by Brave Coward* on 4 July, 2008 - 5:33pm