Thank you for reviewing Blinkfire's contract documents. We recognize that sometimes attorneys and contract professionals are asked to redline an agreement without being given a complete understanding of what is being purchased and how Blinkfire’s enterprise cloud service model works. We hope that this FAQ will be useful as you review the Blinkfire documents. This FAQ does not form part of the contract but is intended to provide an overview of the agreement that will be in place between you and Blinkfire.

What is my company purchasing?

Blinkfire Analytics is a platform which aggregates social media statistics on a read only basis from platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, and Tiktok. We also pull in the images and videos you post and analyze them for sponsor exposure in near-real time by applying state of the art artificial intelligence techniques to replicate what the human eye sees and apply a media equivalency valuation. We provide reports that are meant to be given directly to sponsors, however we do allow you as a customer to customize certain aspects of these reports. In this respect we are a tool that you are employing to provide return on investment reports to partners.

How do you license your service and how do you see yourselves?

Blinkfire products are licensed as Software as a Service in an enterpise cloud environment, where a monthly or yearly subscription fee is paid for access to the software platform. We run one codebase for all customers and there are no custom codebases or customizations. There is no software run on premise.
We view ourselves as the same as how you might license Microsoft 365 or Google Docs. It is software you can use for the length of time of your license. If you stop paying for the software, your license lapses and you lose your data. Your legal profile is not different than anyone else's in that all customers are running on the same codebase and use the tools to their own benefit or detriment.

Do you accept redlines or can you create a custom agreement?

Unfortunately we cannot accept redlines or create a custom agreement. We operate in a very low margin, competitive business and do not have legal resources in-house to review changes, nor is there enough margin in prices to use external counsel, even for "just a few changes".
We do our best to take suggestions that might pertain to your specific situation but we regret we cannot create a custom agreement for any customers. We have tried to make the different documents as fair as possible but we also are bound by the way our product operates, and the internet environment in which it operates. Unfortunately, if these documents do not work for you, the best we can do is take your suggestions for a future revision, even if we cannot do business at this time. You can add suggestions here.

How is this different from other social media platforms we may have licensed?

Unlike Sprinklr or Sprout Social that allow the platform to POST on your behalf, Blinkfire Analytics only collects READ ONLY tokens on your social data. This means we can read social analytics from social media platforms but cannot post. We only request OAuth tokens for read access. This means in the unlikely scenario that someone were to takeover your account, there is no possible way they can make malicious posts or "hack your account" from Blinkfire.

What is Blinkfire's pricing methodology?

Blinkfire's business model is structured on a subscription price based on the amount of content that is part of the license, the number of entities that are included, and the number of users who have access to the license. During pricing negotiations, the scope of the content to be accessed is analyzed and spread over the cost of the license. Any contracts less than 12 months, any payment plans less than 12 months, and any content analyzed retroactively carry a premium as we must rent or purchase machines at a higher cost. During the contractually agreed upon term, the subscription fee may not be reduced. Thus, Blinkfire cannot accommodate a customer’s request to decrease their payments to Blinkfire based upon a reduction in volume regardless of the reason for such reduction (customer downsizing, customer acquired by another entity, etc.).

Does Blinkfire offer termination for convenience?

Blinkfire does not agree with the concept of "termination for convenience." For customers that do not want to bear the risk of our Terms of Service, we offer month to month or contracts less than one year at a premium. In this case you may trade a higher license price for the ability to stop using the service at your convenience. These terms and prices may vary based on the scope of the negotiated deal.

Do you offer trials of your software?

Yes, in all cases before these agreements are given to you for review, the business contact has been offered a trial of the services so they they can see and try out all features of the platform or product that they are purchasing. Blinkfire's expectation is that during this trial period, features are either accepted or rejected with respect to being acceptable, and once an Order Form is signed, the service is deemed acceptable.

How are you different from Nielsen, YouGov, Endeavor, Wasserman or other valuation agencies we have dealt with before?

Blinkfire is not an agency. There is no Statement of Work. You are licensing Software as a Service. You are subscribing for access to syndicated data. Although we have Customer Success employees who help you with interpreting and using the software, you are not contracting us as consultants or as an agency. On top of the license, we may offer Premium Customer Service to assist you with some tasks, and in those cases we may detail a SOW for those tasks, but usually that is not the case.

How do you view liability?

We view Blinkfire as a tool licensed users use to create reports, measure sponsorship inventory, and value sponsorship exposure in media. We provide many points of customization available to the user such as setting and using ad rates, overriding inventory values, and exportable reports in editable formats such as Excel and Powerpoint. These customized reports are the work and liability of the user in the same way a company that makes hammers shouldn't be liable if you build a house that does not stand. We therefore feel that we are not liable for how users use the software beyond the cost of the license itself.

Have you filed any patents that will help protect against lawsuits?

Yes, you can view our patent portfolio which lists our granted patents. There are many others in process which have not become public yet.

Where can I find out information about data security measures and other actions used to secure data?

Please read our Data Protection Addendum from our legal resources page or directly here.