How do I create custom tabs on Facebook?

Internet Law: Is it legal to alter Facebook and Twitter icons to match the rest of your website?

• I’m designing an E-commerce site and I would like to change the colors and styles of the Facebook and Twitter “follow us” buttons to keep my graphic scheme consistent and elegant. Custom social network buttons are found all over the web including on sites like http://bitty.com, which partner closely with social networks. Nonetheless, while Facebook and Twitter provide editable copies of their logos for easy download, the accompanying documentation specifically prohibits web designers from altering the appearances of these files. It is possible that some sites obtain official permission to use custom buttons, but my suspicion is that the vast majority do not, and the social networks simply choose to not police their own guidelines. I’m not trying to create problems where there are none, but the site I’m working on is for a paying client, not personal use, and I don’t want my design to infringe on anyone’s intellectual property rights. I could simply contact Facebook and Twitter directly, but I'm nervous that if I do so I will be explicitly forbidden from making any alterations, and I potentially could be better off not asking. Does anyone know any information about this subject or have any suggestion? Thanks! Official Twitter and Facebook Logo Documentation: https://twitter.com/logo https://www.facebook.com/brandpermissions/logos.php (scroll down to “‘f’ logo” and select “usage”) Sites Featuring Custom Social Network Icons https://bitly.com/ http://www.tntdrama.com/ http://spigotdesign.com/ http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/10/20-websites-that-engage-users-with-social-media-icons-and-links/

• Answer:

  I can't give you specific legal advice, but given the circumstances and trademark and what I know about these companies, if you get some kind of traction, you can expect them to email you about adhering to their brand guidelines. You probably won't get a cease-and-desist unless you are claiming to be affiliated with them in some way. From a design perspective, I highly (highly) recommend that you do not do this. The branding of these sites, including color and graphic style, is ingrained into the memory of people. By altering it, you make your site feel sketchy and untrustworthy. Also, try for a second to put yourself in their shoes: if one day you had a mark known by hundreds of millions of people that you worked very hard to establish, would you want people to go ahead and change it because they felt like it? Edit: I clarified in the comments with this: Desaturating a logo isn't necessarily the same as changing the color. If you make a Twitter bird green, that's not appropriate to a brand, but all (good) brand marks are designed to function as black-and-white or grayscale. I'd never make the Twitter bird green, or the Pinterest badge blue, or Facebook's "f" anything other than white. All in all, I would just be conscious of the brand. The question, "Does what I'm about to do make sense for (insert name of company here)?" is a good one that I always ask myself when messing with social media icons. For what it's worth, I don't think OP was thinking of doing anything absolutely crazy, so it probably isn't a very big deal at all.