Proper Etiquette for Sharing Photos Online

With today’s social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, taking and sharing photos and videos have become much more convenient, free, and out there for the world to see in an instant. It’s really amazing that you can just scroll down and watch your friends and loved ones’ lives unfolding in pictures and videos. It helps you to stay connected to people even when you rarely get to see them. However, we must continuously remind ourselves of the fact that we are not only sharing with our friends and loved ones, but outsiders may see these as well. By using the proper etiquette and teaching our children the correct behavior when sharing photos and video online, it may prevent many mishaps, and even preserve friendships.

Think First

First of all, use your privacy settings wisely and simply think before you post. Ask yourself if there is anyone in the picture that might be less than pleased that you shared. Is it, in anyway, inappropriate, unflattering, embarrassing, or incriminating? Would you want it online if it were you? Are there children in the photo, and would their parents approve it being shared? Could it cause someone to lose their job, or prevent them from getting one in the future?  You never know who may be browsing these images.

When Private Messaging is Better

If any of these things are in question, it’s best to send your photo in a private message, or ask before sharing. I’m sure we’ve all had a terrible picture of ourselves shared with five hundred of our closest friends without our permission. Maybe that person really didn’t think it was a bad picture at all, but wouldn’t it have been nice to be asked first?

Less is More

Another thing to pay attention to is how many photos you share. Is it too much? Do you have a facebook friend, who posts pictures and videos of random junk, obsessively, day and night? Annoying, right? It’s even more irritating when someone comments or likes every photo you post in an album of fifty pictures.

A little courtesy and common sense go a long way. Let’s show our Facebook friends some respect.

So we’ve covered the basics above, but if you’re really into photo sharing then you might want to watch Casey Neistat’s humorous guide on using Instagram below:

[Image via bestapps-iphone]