Privacy Policy

Last modified: November 2, 2011

1. Introduction

BranchOut, Inc. ("BranchOut" or "we") operates the BranchOut services to make professional networking easy, fun, and effective. We provide you with opportunities to search for a job, source leads for recruiting or sales, create and maintain a professional profile, and build your network of professional connections.

We provide this Privacy Policy to inform you of our policies regarding the collection, use, disclosure and protection of information. This Privacy Policy applies to all of the BranchOut professional networking websites, mobile features, applications, and other interactive features or services that link to it ("BranchOut Services"), including the BranchOut website (http://www.branchout.com) (the "BranchOut Site") and the BranchOut applications and pages on Facebook (the "BranchOut App"). Your use of the BranchOut Services is subject to our Terms of Use (http://branchout.com/about/terms). If you access the BranchOut Services through Facebook, you may be required to read and accept the Facebook terms of service and privacy policy.

Our policy concerning children under 13. The BranchOut Services are not intended for children younger than the age of 13. If we learn that we have inadvertently gathered personal information from children younger than the age of 13, we will take reasonable measures to delete such information from our records as soon as practical.

2. BranchOut Community Basics.

Through the BranchOut services, we provide you with the tools to instantly start a professional network based on your existing Facebook profile and comprised of your friends and their friends and that you can expand as you connect with other BranchOut members and friends. You also have the opportunity for potential employers, business partners, BranchOut customers, professional contacts and friends (the "BranchOut Community") to find you. We allow our members to communicate and collaborate with each other, learn about business opportunities and jobs and obtain introductions. Additionally, BranchOut users may celebrate success stories, engage in activities and acknowledge our community's pool of talent.

Importantly, however, BranchOut does not request, receive or access your non- professional Facebook information such as your photos (other than your profile photo), videos, wall posts, status updates, location check-ins, personal interests (e.g., favorite bands and movies) and use of other Facebook apps and services.

By joining BranchOut, you are voluntarily deciding to become part of BranchOut's global community and to disclose or share certain information with BranchOut and other members of the BranchOut Community. Below we summarize what it means to be part of the BranchOut community and how your professional profile and activity will be displayed among the BranchOut Community, on Facebook and publicly.

Your Public Profile and Full Profile.

Your BranchOut profile is your professional resume on the internet whether you work on Main Street, Wall Street or anywhere else. When you join the BranchOut Community, certain of your information will be viewable to everyone publicly ("Public Profile."). By default, your Public Profile displays your name, BranchOut profile photo, work history and education. Your Public Profile is your virtual business card consisting of a simple URL (e.g., www.branchout.com/john.smith) that you can share or display as you choose (e.g., on your email signature or blog).You can control how much of this information is available in public search results and publicly on the internet as set forth below in "BranchOut Privacy Settings." However, your name, current title and workplace will always be available publicly in your Public Profile. Also, note that your Public Profile may be indexed by and displayed by internet search providers when someone searches for your name. BranchOut does not control how frequently third-party search engines update their indexes, consequently their information may be outdated.

You may also choose to complete a full user profile ("Full Profile") that is visible to other BranchOut users in the BranchOut Community. Your Full Profile may include:

  • a profile photo
  • a summary of your professional background
  • your education and skills
  • the types of opportunities you seek (e.g., business opportunities, temporary work, sales leads)
  • links to your profiles on other services (e.g., Twitter); and
  • endorsements.

You may make certain choices regarding who is able to view your Full Profile through the Privacy Center and as set forth below in "BranchOut Privacy Settings." However, please note that BranchOut's enterprise customers can always search for and view the Full Profile of our members so that such customers can communicate with and present career and business opportunities to BranchOut members.

BranchOut may offer you the ability to import your professional information from your resume or through third party services so that you can display such information in your BranchOut Public Profile or Full Profile. BranchOut also may update the BranchOut Services and provide additional ways to share information and enhance your professional profile.

BranchOut Privacy Settings:

BranchOut provides three privacy settings to control how much of your Full Profile and Public Profile are visible to the BranchOut community and publicly (other than Enterprise Customers, who always have the ability to review your Full Profile, as set forth below).

  • "Everyone" on BranchOut: By default your account is set to this setting. We recommend this setting because it enables the entire BranchOut Community to view your Full Profile, which can help you to network and receive business and career opportunities. This setting will also make your full Public Profile available publicly to everyone on the internet.
  • "Friends and their Friends" (2nd Degree): This setting permits your 1st Degree Connections and their connections on BranchOut to view your Full Profile. This setting limits your Public Profile to your name, current title and workplace. Your profile photo, work summary, full work history and education will not be visible in your Public Profile.
  • "Friends Only" (1st Degree): This setting permits only your BranchOut connections (persons that you have agreed to connect with on BranchOut through your accepting a request or those who have accepted your request to connect) to see your Full Profile. This setting limits your Public Profile to your name, current title and workplace. Your profile photo, work summary, full work history and education will not be visible in your Public Profile.

Professional Customers of Enterprise Services. BranchOut offers enterprise services to corporate customers for recruiting and business development purposes. Notwithstanding your privacy setting, BranchOut's enterprise customers can always search for and view the Full Profile of our members so that such customers can communicate with and present career and business opportunities to BranchOut members.

Your invitations to connect on BranchOut. When you ask us to invite a friend to join BranchOut, as you elect, we may (1) send your friend a message on your behalf using your name, or (2) post the invite to your friend's Facebook wall or by notification. The invitation may also contain information about other users your friend might know.

Your BranchOut Activity on Facebook. One of the benefits of BranchOut is that you can check in with your professional network every time you are on Facebook. We also make it easy to share and connect with your Facebook friends. We will notify you if your BranchOut activity will be displayed on Facebook and we may give you the option to choose where to post certain information. For example, if you provide information regarding your current professional position, you can choose whether your BranchOut professional status is displayed only on BranchOut or also posted directly to your Facebook or Twitter accounts. And, if you send an invitation to connect on BranchOut, you can choose or we will notify you regarding whether your invitation will be sent via email, a BranchOut request, a Facebook wall post or otherwise.

3. Information We Receive

BranchOut believes that your friends and family are your true support network both personally and professionally. Thus, BranchOut allows you to establish a professional network on BranchOut based on your Facebook friends and their network while only sharing limited personal information with us from your Facebook profile (see below for more details).

By accessing BranchOut with your Facebook ID, you are authorizing BranchOut to collect, store, and use in accordance with this Privacy Policy any and all information that you agreed that Facebook could provide to BranchOut through the Facebook's Application Programming Interface ("API"). Your agreement takes place when you "accept" or "allow" (or similar term) the BranchOut App on Facebook.

When you use and install the BranchOut App on Facebook, you allow BranchOut to access certain information from your Facebook profile to establish your professional profile and network. The information you allow BranchOut to access is affected by the privacy settings you establish at Facebook. You can control and find out more about these settings at Facebook.

Importantly, however, BranchOut does not request, receive or access your non- professional Facebook information such as your photos (other than your profile photo), videos, wall posts, status updates, location check-ins, personal interests (e.g., favorite bands and movies) and use of other Facebook apps and services.

As allowed by you based upon your Facebook settings, BranchOut will access and store some or all of the following information from your current Facebook profile:

  • your first and last name
  • your current city and state
  • your work history and education
  • your profile picture
  • your Facebook user ID number, which is linked to publically available
  • information such as your name and profile photo
  • the login e-mail you provided to Facebook when you registered
  • your gender
  • your age range as provided by Facebook (e.g., over 13, over 21).your friends' and their friends' names and applicable user ID number, profile photos, work history and education.

By the way, you can change your profile photo on BranchOut (e.g., to the one of you looking very professional) and this will not change your Facebook profile photo (e.g., the one of you with your kids or on the ski slopes). Also in order to help you instantly build your professional network, BranchOut will continue to update your network of friends and their friends, but the rest of your BranchOut profile will not change if you change your Facebook profile

B. Information We Collect From You Directly

When you use BranchOut, whether through the BranchOut Site or through the BranchOut App or otherwise, we may collect and store information from you directly as described below:

Registration and Payment Information

In addition to the information we receive from Facebook, when you register with us or choose to participate in one of our features or otherwise interact with us, you may be required or asked to provide certain information, which may include personal information (which is information that can be used to identify or contact a specific individual, such as your name and email address), account information (such as a password or other information that helps us confirm that it is you accessing your account) and demographic information (such as your age or zip code). We will also collect payment information (typically, credit card account information) if you choose to purchase products or services through the BranchOut Services.

Friend/Contact Information

In order to help our users contact each other, BranchOut offers numerous communications methods, such as messages within the BranchOut Service and wall posts, messages or application requests on Facebook. BranchOut also offers contact importer tools to help you upload your address book contacts or to manually enter email addresses so that you can (i) find your contacts on BranchOut, (ii) invite your contacts who do not have an account to join BranchOut and (iii) invite them to participate in activities on BranchOut. If you choose to import contacts, BranchOut will store those contacts for purposes of helping you and your contacts make connections on our site, but the passwords provided to BranchOut for the purpose of accessing your address book will not be stored.

Customer Support Correspondence

When you ask for assistance from our Customer Support team, we may collect and store contact information you provide (generally your name and e-mail address), as well as information about your usage of BranchOut so that we can appropriately respond to inquiries. We will also store the correspondence and any related information.

C. Information we collect when you interact with BranchOut.

When you access the BranchOut Services, we and our analytics providers and other third party service providers may collect "Usage Information," which is (i) certain technical information about your computer system and (ii) usage statistics about your interactions with the BranchOut Services, such as the pages and content you view and actions you take on the BranchOut Website, like updating your profile, providing endorsements and updating your professional status. The information collected also includes your IP address or other unique identifier for the computer or other device you use to access the BranchOut services. Some mobile service providers may also provide us or our third-party service providers with information regarding the physical location of the mobile device used to access the BranchOut Services. Usage Information is collected through the use of server log files and tracking technologies, including cookies, web beacons and embedded scripts. In some cases, we will associate this information with your user ID number for our internal use.

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record keeping purposes. Cookies may be used for many purposes, such as remembering you and your preferences and tracking your visits to our web pages.

A web beacon is a small (often invisible) graphic image or other web programming code embedded in a web page or email. Web beacons or similar technologies may be used for a number of purposes, including, without limitation, to count visitors to the BranchOut Services, to monitor how users navigate the BranchOut Services and to count how many e-mails that were sent were actually opened.

An embedded script is programming code that is designed to collect information about your interactions with the Sites, such as the links you click on. The code is temporarily downloaded onto your computer or other device from our server or a third party service provider and is deactivated or deleted when you disconnect from the BranchOut services.

D. Information we receive from third parties and social media applications.

We may receive information from third parties. For example, if you are on another web site and you agree to receive information from BranchOut, that web site will forward your contact and other information to us so that we may contact you as requested. You may also choose to participate in a BranchOut or third party application or features (such as a widget that allows you to import your BranchOut profile information to a third party site) through which you allow us to collect or share information about you. In addition, we may receive information about you if other users of a third party web site give us access to their profiles and you are one of their "connections" or information about you is otherwise accessible through your "connections" web page, profile page, or similar page on a social networking or other third party web site or interactive service.

We also may supplement the information we collect with outside records from third parties in order to provide you with information, services or goods you have requested. We may combine the information we receive from those other sources with information we collect through the Site. In those cases, we will apply this Privacy Policy to the combined information.

4. How We Use Your Information

BranchOut uses information it collects and receives about you to provide the BranchOut services, to contact you, and as disclosed at the time you provide your information. Specifically, here are some ways that we use the information we collect and receive, including personal information and Usage Information:

When You Agree to Receive Information From Third Parties or Otherwise Request That We Share Your Information.

You may be presented with an opportunity to receive information and/or marketing offers from one or more third parties. If you agree at that time to have your information shared, your information will be disclosed to that third party (or parties) and will be subject to the privacy policy and practices of that third party. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of third parties, and, if you later decide that you no longer want to receive communications from a third party, you will need to contact that third party directly. You also may request, sometimes through your use of an interactive feature, a widget or third party application, that we share information about you with a third party and we will typically do so under those circumstances.

User Registration.

The information you provide to us is used to register your account, establish your profile, allow you to use the BranchOut Services and allow others to discover and communicate with you. Your Public Profile is available to all, but you have certain choices regarding which information is displayed in your Public Profile and who within the BranchOut Community may access your Full Profile. For more information, see our BranchOut Community Basics section (above).

Managing our Service.

We use the information we collect to provide our services and features to you, to measure and improve those services and features, and to provide you with customer support. We may also use information we collect to serve you content that will be more meaningful to you. For example, if we may use your work history or education to recommend available jobs or people you might want to know.

Communications from BranchOut.

We may contact you through email, messages in Facebook and BranchOut, wall posts and notifications on Facebook with service-related announcements, to respond to customer support inquiries, keep you informed of your connections activity (e.g., update to work history or endorsements) and present you with professional opportunities. We may also send you promotional email messages on our behalf or on behalf of our partners. You can opt out of receiving promotional messages by clicking "unsubscribe" in the message or changing your email settings in the Privacy Center (http://branchout.com/about/privacy).

Communications from Users.

When you initiate communications through BranchOut (e.g., requests for introductions or an invitation sent to a non-User) we may list your name in the header of the message or in the wall post or notification, but we will not include your personal email address. We allow other users to use contact information they have about you, such as your email address, to find you, including through contact importers and search, and they may also contact you through the BranchOut message system and Facebook communications channels. Other BranchOut members may also contact your for introductions to your friends. Additionally, certain of our enterprise services and memberships will enable users that are not part of your network to email you within the BranchOut Service with ReachOutTM messages to present professional opportunities and seek referrals or request introductions to your network. For more information, see our BranchOut Community Basics section (above).

Badges, Votes and Endorsements.

If you award a badge to, vote on or write an endorsement for a friend or another user, or engage in other activities related to your friends we will notify such user that you took such action. We will either notify you of where your activity is displayed before you take such action (e.g., "post to Facebook") or give you an option whether it is displayed (e.g., you are given to invite a friend to connect on BranchOut by "Facebook request" or "email").

Polls, Quizzes and Surveys.

BranchOut conducts polls, surveys and quizzes that users can take. Participation in these polls, surveys and quizzes is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Certain employers may use the results from these activities in their recruiting efforts. Additionally, third parties may target advertising to you based on answers and information from these activities.

5. How We Share Information

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide your personal identifiable information to any third party advertisers for direct marketing purposes without your consent. We share your information (which may include personal information) with third parties (not BranchOut) with your consent, as disclosed in this privacy policy or at the time you provide us with information, and in the following circumstances:

Enterprise and Premium Services.

In order to generally provide our services to our users free of charge, we offer enterprise and premium services (collectively, "Enterprise Services") to help recruiters, sales professionals and other customers find qualified candidates, sales leads and aggregate business information. Our Enterprise Services, among other things, allow our customers to collaborate with colleagues to search for and communicate with you and other members, and to see your Full Profile, some of your professional activity and updates to your profile (e.g., promotions, types of opportunities you desire), to qualify you for business and career opportunities, request introductions to your network to present opportunities, review your professional profile and collaborate with you on business opportunities.

Third Party Service Providers.

We may provide information to service providers that help us bring you the services we offer. For example, we may use third parties to help host our website, send out email updates about BranchOut, remove repetitive information from our user lists, process payments, or provide search results or links (including sponsored links). If you purchase any products or services from BranchOut, our billing partner will receive billing and financial information (e.g., credit card numbers) necessary to process your charges, including your postal and e-mail addresses, depending on your payment method. BranchOut will not store this information, but it will be provided to third parties so that they may process your payment.

Joint Services.

We may provide services jointly with other companies, such as with a sales customer relationship management service or recruiting software service. If you use these services, we may share your information to facilitate that service. However, we will identify the partner before you use that service.

Legal Requests and Safety.

We may transfer and disclose information, including personal Information and Usage Information and your device identifier (including IP address), to third parties to comply with a legal obligation; when we believe in good faith that the law requires it; at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation; to verify or enforce our Terms of Use or other applicable policies; to respond to an emergency; or otherwise to protect the rights, property, safety, or security of third parties, users of the BranchOut Services or the public. We may also use device identifiers to identify users, and may do so in cooperation with copyright owners, Internet service providers, wireless service providers or law enforcement agencies, in our discretion. Such disclosures may be carried out without notice to you.

Transfer in the Event of Sale or Change of Control.

BranchOut reserves the right to disclose and transfer user information, including personal information, in connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, restructuring, the sale of certain stock and/or assets, or other corporate change including, without limitation, during the course of any due diligence process.

Sweepstakes, Contests and Promotions.

We may offer sweepstakes, contests, and other promotions (each, a "Promotion") that may require registration. If you choose to enter a Promotion, your personal information may be disclosed to third parties in connection with the administration of such Promotion, such as in connection with winner selection, prize fulfillment, and as required by law, such as on a winners list. By entering a Promotion, you are agreeing to the official rules that govern that Promotion, which may contain specific requirements of you, including, except where prohibited by law, allowing the sponsor and/or other parties to use your name, voice and/or likeness in advertising or marketing materials.

Non-Personal Information.

We may share non-personal information, such as aggregated user statistics with third parties for a variety of purposes. But we only do so in such a way that no individual user is identified or linked to any specific action or information.

6. Third Party Analytics Providers And Ad Servers.

Although the BranchOut Site currently does not display ads from third parties, BranchOut works with network advertisers, ad agencies, third party traffic measurement services and other vendors to provide us with information regarding traffic on the BranchOut Site and through the BranchOut Services, to serve our advertisements on other web sites, within third party applications, and across the Internet, and to provide us with information regarding the use of the BranchOut Services and the effectiveness of our advertisements. For example, if you click on a BranchOut advertisement, our service provider(s) may be able to tell us which advertisement you clicked on and where you were viewing the advertisement. In connection with providing analytics and advertisement services, our service providers may collect certain information about your visits to this or other web sites. We do not share personal information with these service providers, but they may set and access their own tracking technologies on your computer or device (including cookies and web beacons) and may otherwise collect or have access to information about you (such as your general interest in career networking and Usage Information). Cookies and web beacons, including those set by third party network advertisers, may be used to, among other things, target advertisements, prevent you from seeing the same advertisements too many times and to conduct research regarding the usefulness of certain advertisements to you. We may share Usage Information about visitors with third party advertising companies, analytics providers and other vendors for similar purposes. While we may use a variety of service providers to perform advertising and analytics services, you may wish to visit http:// www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp, which provides information regarding this practice by Network Advertising Initiative ("NAI") members, including the "opt-out" procedures of NAI members.

7. How to Access and Update Your Information.

Information We Receive From Facebook.

To manage the information BranchOut receives about you from Facebook, you will need to follow the instructions in your "Account" and "Privacy Settings" on Facebook (or similar features as determined by Facebook) for updating your information and changing your privacy settings.

Once BranchOut receives your information from Facebook, that information is stored and used by BranchOut in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Accessing and Controlling Your Information.

You can review and update your Full Profile (some of which will be included in your Public Profile), with your latest work history, skills and other information, at any time by logging into your account on BranchOut and following the instructions in "Edit Profile." In order to provide a useful professional network, BranchOut has established certain default for our community as set forth in the BranchOut Community Basics section above.

Closing Your Account.

We would hate to see you go, but if you no longer want BranchOut to make active use of your information, you may send an e-mail to privacy@branchout.com. Place "Delete My Account" in the subject line and include your first name, last name, e-mail address in the body of the e-mail. We will respond to your request as soon as practical and within thirty (30) days. Please note that some information may not be able to be deleted from all databases and backup records and that certain records, for example those pertaining to payments or customer service matters, will be retained for legal and accounting purposes. Also, if you have posted content on or through the BranchOut Services, we may not be able to delete it.

8. Security of Your Information.

BranchOut implements reasonable security measures to protect the security of your information both online and offline, and we are committed to the protection of customer information.

When you sign into your account or enter payment information (such as a credit card number when purchasing virtual currency), we encrypt the transmission of that information using secure socket layer technology ("SSL").

While we take reasonable precautions against possible security breaches of our websites and our customer databases and records, no website or Internet transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss, or other breaches will never occur. We urge you to take steps to keep your personal information safe (including your account password), and to log out of your account after use. If your Facebook account is hacked, this may lead to unauthorized use of your BranchOut application, so be careful to keep your account information secure.

9. BranchOut Widgets And BranchOut Content Found Outside The BranchOut Services.

When you are using the BranchOut Site or BracnhOut App, you may be directed to other websites or online services that are operated and controlled by third parties that are beyond our control. In addition, BranchOut content and widgets may be included on web pages and web sites that are not associated with us and over which we have no control. These third parties may independently collect data. BranchOut is not responsible for the privacy practices of any third party

10. Changes/Consent To Transfer/Contact Us

Changes.

BranchOut may update this policy from time to time and any changes will be effective upon posting. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address specified in your BranchOut account or by placing a prominent notice on our site. However, we will use your personal information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy in effect at the time you submitted the information, unless you consent to the new or revised policy.

Consent to Transfer.

The BranchOut Services are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using the BranchOut Services, or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen.




How to Contact Us.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy and/or practices, please send an e-mail to privacy@branchout.com. Any other questions or inquiries should be directed to BranchOut Customer Care at contact@branchout.com.

BranchOut, Inc.
Attention: Legal/Privacy Team
651 Brannan Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94107