Image Sharing

When my daughter Googled her name… I turned out to be her biggest online privacy problem

-          Lorraine Akemann

                While browsing through the BlogHer archives I found a really interesting blog posted back in January by Lorraine Akemann, “3 Lessons I Learned About Online Privacy When My Teen Googled Her Name” . Akemann, a mom blogger, explains her surprise upon discovering that the photos of her daughter that she had uploaded onto her blog were popping up in a Google search of her daughter’s real name despite being labeled “anonymously” (which up to this point she believed was an adequate measure for protecting their privacy), meaning her daughter’s online identity was now linked to her blog unintentionally. You can read through her post for some tips on how she’s dealt with this issue and the changes she’s making in her blogging practice since.

                Many mom bloggers do upload identifiable images of their children to their blogs while others choose not to or meet somewhere in the middle, such as only using pictures in which their faces are obscured. Bloggers are well aware of the benefits of adding images to their posts. Images can help break up chunks of text making a post more visually appealing/interesting for the reader, make a post more shareable across different image-heavy platforms like Facebook or Pinterest potentially leading to more views, and when used well compliment the content of the post. Speaking of Facebook and Pinterest, it’s fairly common for bloggers to want to beef up their social media presence in these other realms as well as other popular social media platforms like Instagram, all of which involve increasing image sharing, in order to gain more of a following for their blog.

                In another Blogher post I ran into “8 Things You Need To Know Before You StartYour Blog”, Jill Robbins writes:

Will you show your kids’ picture or reveal their true names? These are all things to think about BEFORE you share your story online. Privacy may not be important now, but it may become important at some point. Once information is out there, you can’t take it back. 

I added the emphasis on the “before” there because I think that’s a really crucial point. What Akemann’s article brings to light is the importance of taking just as much caution when posting an image as you should with your words and not having a false sense of security when it comes to sharing information about yourself and your family online. In Akemann’s case (and many others who’ve made similar mistakes online) she was unaware that her blog was infringing on her daughter’s privacy until after the fact. In order to make decisions about online privacy and be able to set boundaries, bloggers (especially those just starting out that have less experience) need to be more aware and informed of the consequences. Anecdotes and advice like that of Akemann and Robbins can help in bringing some of that to light. I don’t have a large social media following (or much of any size following at all really) or a personal brand to promote but working on this post has gotten even a casual user such as myself to make some changes to how I use sites like Instagram and Facebook. I find that I often take the stance that as long as the images fit with what I’ve deemed to be appropriate then it’s okay to share them online, even when they include other people like family members and are sometimes easily accessible by strangers (ie: public accounts). I’ve begun to re-think that position.