A Question of Etiquette: Publishing Photos of Other People on Social Media Sites
One of the key blogger events of the Australian calendar is happening tomorrow in Melbourne – ProBlogger Training Event and while the hashtag is heating up (#pbevent) with tips, advice, photos and comments I came across a post today or rather a comment in a post that made me go – “Yup…totally agree”.
The post is called “ProBlogger Event 11 Easy Peasy Tips” and is by blogger Nathalie from www.easypeasykids.com.au. Now the comment in question was half way down the post and was this:
If you are going to Tweet, Facebook, Instagram or publish the photo to a social media site, I think it’s polite to check with the person you have your photo taken with, some bloggers like to remain anon. Me I just like to check the photo first, spinach in teeth, eyes half closed etc…
It’s a good point isn’t it? And so makes sense.
Reading the post made me think (again) about the… issue (as I will call it this) of pics of you (or your offspring) that your Twitter or Facebook friends put on social media sites – without your consent.
Take me. Last week I returned from two weeks in Ireland with my children. There we were whizzing around Ireland seeing lots of my extended family and as you can imagine cameras and phone cameras were running hot (none hotter than mine I have to admit 
But that being said it was with a tad of…panic (yes, that’s the only word I can use!) that I greeted pics of my offspring on my Facebook wall the day after I returned to Australia. Thankfully my children weren’t identified in the photo and they were not tagged to my account but still I couldn’t help but think…
Yikes!!
The irony is although I work in Digital Media and live and breathe it for the last 14 years, both my partner and I are cautious about creating a digital footprint for our children.
While respecting the choices of other people to post pics of their kids online we decided that we wanted our children to make the decision about what information and photos of them are put online. This means I do not post their photos on social media sites – including Facebook . If I do post a pic of them they’re faces are obscured or taken from behind or simply not shown.
I can’t help but think it would be so nice if people just stopped for a moment before the upload that photo and think about whether or not they have permission to post a pic (or tag someone in a photo) and this is especially true if it is someone else’s children.
I guess the whole “etiquette” about the use of photos and social media sites is still developing but the point is this. Before you post a photo of anyone else on a social media site - especially someone else’s children stop for a moment and think:
Do I have permission? Do I have consent to post these photos?
If the answer is “no” or you are unsure to both these questions then do not post.
What’s your thoughts on photo etiquette on social media sites?
(And wishing all attendees at #pbevent a fantastic conference. Personally Im looking forward to a fantastic two days and to all interstate and overseas visitors out there enjoy the fantastic icy conditions here!)
Ann, what a great post. I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with your approach. I too have reservations around what pics are uploaded and how easily identified my kids are on social media and myself and my husband take a similar approach to yourself with choice of images. I wonder from a copyright and persmissions perspective when this will be legally tested. I also wonder about how people who have security or safety issues around the identification of themselves of their families manage this problem. As a site admin for a club facebook page it has been an interesting process to “educate” contributors around what images will and will not be deemed to be appropriate, particularly when it comes to kids ….
Good work and enjoy the PB conference….