Facebook has just announced their latest update to their Community Guidelines, including a “no booty” photos. They are careful to point out that little, if anything, has actually changed in the rules of using Facebook, but they are mostly clarifying existing rules. Specifically, Facebook stated that the rules are designed to ‘create an environment where people feel motivated and empowered to treat each other with empathy and respect.”
Of course, that doesn’t really mean anything at this point, until they start taking actions against people who they think are not living up to those standards.
The following are some of the most significant updates, which will likely have an actual impact on what you see in your News Feed going forward:
- No More Butts – Facebook stated that any images that ‘focus on fully exposed buttocks’ will be removed.
- Breast Feeding Babies – They also clarified that breast feeding pictures are permitted. This has been a big debate over the last year, and it is good to see that Facebook is making it clear that breast feeding babies are not inappropriate at all.
- Nudity in Artwork is Ok – They did put some clarifying language around nudity in art work. Of course, this will still be a judgment call by the Facebook team.
- Let’s Not Talk about Sex, Baby – Graphic detail about sex will be removed.
- No more Scoring Drugs on Facebook – You can’t request, or offer, illegal drugs in your status.
- Terrorism Images – Images of terrorism such as the beheading videos are ok as long as it is used in such a way as to condemn the acts and not glorify them in any way.
There are other updates, but those are the ones that will get the most attention and have the most impact for user’s Facebook experience.
When it comes to how marketers are using Facebook, this may very well have some impact. For example, many marketers like to use sexy pictures of women to get attention. They won’t be able to post a picture of ladies at the beach in thongs anymore, for example. While they could, in theory, post pictures of ladies breast feeding, I’m not sure that would have the desired effect.
Over the next week or two there will undoubtedly be a lot of people trying to ‘push the envelope’ of what is acceptable on Facebook so we’ll all have to keep an eye on how the Facebook editing team is enforcing the updated guidelines.
