Digital Smarts - Sharing Pictures of Your Kids on Social Media: Tips for Cautious Postings

Sharing pictures and updates about your children on social media has become a norm for most people who want to keep in touch with family and friends around the world, despite experts on digital safety cautioning parents about being very careful about what you post.  Accustations of “sharenting,” or obnoxiously sharing every little detail of their children’s lives in pictures online, criticize parents who are robbing children of their right to privacy and dignity, and sometimes rubbing others the wrong way by what many see as bragging. So what should you think about when it comes to cautiously and sparingly posting pictures of your children online?

• Before you post a picture to any site, understand there is still the potential for anyone to see it. Even if you have created a private or “secret” group, with every privacy control available, people may still be able to forward pictures and messages, so think very carefully about what you post. Anything that is shared online – pictures, messages, status updates­– is stored somewhere and has the potential to come back and haunt you (or your child) later. Think about how pictures of your child misbehaving or negative comments about behavior or learning issues could affect them in the future.
• For what you do decide to post, use as many privacy control settings as possible before posting a picture of your child on any social media site. These are not absolute guarantees to keep strangers from seeing her photo, but it decreases the risk. Also turn off your phone’ s GPS. The default on most phones is to have the GPS turned on.
• Think about using photo-sharing sites such as Google Photos or Flickr that require users to log in to see your individual pictures (unlike on social media, where all your followers can see them).
• Never offer any personal information with the photo such as your home address, your children’s school, where their birthday party was held or even what sports team they are on or where the game was played.
• Make it a rule to try to not include your children’s friends in pictures, but if it is unavoidable do not identify their friends by name.
• Avoid posting any pictures or comments suggesting your child is a loner or if he's upset about something someone said. Strangers might use that to lure your child into a situation that can be dangerous.
• Recognize that while you are the owner of the photo you took, by posting it on a social media site you effectively grant permission to the website where you posted it to use the work in any manner according to its terms of use or privacy standards. If copyright is your concern, consider adding a digital watermark (a superimposed logo or word) to your photos.
• If you share custody of your children, take care. Sometimes ex partners find it emotionally trying to see photos of their child when they are not part of the happy occasion.
• As soon as your child is old enough to understand, ask permission before posting any photos. What may seem innocent to you, it might embarrass her if her classmates see it. The last person you should ever want to embarrass or expose to cyberbullying is someone you're supposed to protect.
• Once the picture is posted be prepared for a variety of feedback. Not everyone will see that darling or amusing picture of your child the way you do.
• Keep in mind that posting a picture of a child could identify you to advertisers and data collectors as someone to target for baby or childrens products.