A word of warning about sharing Facebook Images!
Facebook is full of really inspiring quotes and funny/poignant/beautiful images. Recently we seem to have got the hang of this sharing images business. We are sharing them in our gazillions. If you have a facebook page to promote your business then you'll know that comments, shares and likes are what we all want - and these inspirational images and quotes are a very easy way to get a little flurry of interest.
Share, take care!
Beyond copyright issues - which seem to be entirely overlooked by most people! (tiptoes through minefield - boom!) This is a different issue, it's something that makes me a little bit nervous about sharing images if I don't know the person who originally uploaded the content. I discovered this some time ago and couldn't decide whether to share this knowledge. Recently though with people sharing so much more within my own circles, I figured if I realised it then evil spammy nasty people might do too.
So I have written this to give you all the heads up.
When you share an image the original description is still editable by the person who originally uploaded the image.
So they could change the message beneath to something really inappropriate like on an image of a cute kitten that originally says, "Fluffy playing with yarn, awwww cute!" could be changed to "I torture cats when they play with my yarn by sticking knitting needles in their eyes, mwah ha ha" - do you see what I'm getting at?
So have a little think about where the original image came from, click the image and check before you share. You are uploading an image and you have no control over the image description.
An example in case you didn't understand the implications!
Here above you can see the original text - I say Designer 'no carve' pumpkins - How Cool!
In this one I edited it just now to say Designer 'no carve' pumpkins - How Cool! 'Cockadoodledo'
(it was the first thing that came to mind!)
And now on Quercus Silvers page you can see it shows the change. That photo was uploaded months ago and I can still edit it! I could write whatever I want. I could write "share this if pumpkins make you horny too!" - I could change it to whatever I like, I may be sane (ish) now and I happen to really respect this beautiful jeweller so wouldn't dream of it, but I could go completely bonkers in the future or we could fall out?
Also I can add huge descriptions beneath images - essays! talk about an opportunity for spammers!
The link exists forever - look it's here https://www.facebook.com/QuercusSilver/posts/276898232341174 - every single post on facebook has it's own url, just click the time it was posted to find it. Even more opportunity to mess with peoples reputations. As links can be shared and re-shared around the internet ad infinitum.
Guard your reputation carefully
As a professional with a reputation to maintain I'm going to make sure I'm really careful about who's images I share in the future. The original text accompanying links can't be changed so share links to your hearts content!
If you do see a great image you want to share here is a really safe way to avoid the likelihood of this ever happening. Right click the image, and save to your computer. 'Save as' then upload to facebook and write in the description "via" and a link to where you discovered it, or a tag for that page - give them kudos for their find :) The added benefit of this is that when anyone who shares the image clicks on it, they come straight back to your page.
Are you surprised by this? would love to hear your comments.