09 September 2013

Photos and privacy - how much control do we really have on Facebook

Did you know that Cover photos on Facebook are made Public, and cannot be changed? Over the weekend I found a huge amount of my personal photo's, along with some status updates were shared as "Public". I didn't realise this at the time, and think it's because of how they were published through my old mobile phone's FB app which didn't have the audience selector option, meaning anyone on Facebook could see these photos.

Posting photos on Facebook has become a bit of an issue in my household lately. Hubby has been a little uncomfortable about who I've been sharing photo's of our girls (mostly friends on my personal page, and the odd photo on my blog's FB page), and who should and shouldn't be allowed to share our photo's.

Facebook says that you can change the privacy setting for albums such as Mobile uploads, Timeline photos and albums created through other applications such as Instagram.

On my blog's Facebook page, the "Timeline photos" folder tells me that I can change the audience for each photo in this album, but for some reason it doesn't let me. I have lodged a form with Facebook asking them how I can fix this up.



To be a little more vigilant with what photos I publish on Facebook, I have decided to remove some of the older photo's of my girls since I can't change the privacy setting or hide them from my timeline. I'm not sure if its because they are published on a fan page, rather than a personal page?

But it begs the question how much control do we have over the privacy of our photos.

Can people who aren't "Likers" of a blog's Facebook page still see the content and photo's posted?

Well I did a little research (created an anonymous FB account) and found that, yes you can see all the content including the photos, even if you haven't "Liked" the page.

I think I should be allowed to change the privacy settings so only the people who have "Liked" my page can see the content & photos. I also believe we should be able to change photos that are shared as Public to Private or Friends only.

Has anyone had issues with changing the privacy settings on their blog's Facebook page? Love to hear your thoughts, and what you did to change it.

4 comments:

  1. I think in the settings on your fb page can switch to likes only as viewers of your page but yes I'm cautious with how much I share pphoto wise of my girls on fb. I feel much more protected on instagram!! Xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Elisa, Be great if you could, but unfortunately you can't. The only way to change who can see your content is by Age or Country. Facebook pages are public pages, so content is available to all to see on and off Facebook. I think I will reviewing what photos I publish on my page from now on. xx

      Delete
  2. Just be warned, any person or company can lift photos of any of your social media and do anything they like with them. There have been a number of cases where the person is caused much embarrassment, but billboards are allowed to stay up. So use with caution is all I can say. Also make sure anything you upload from your phone has the camera location switched off, because then you are upload a whole lot of more personal details.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post. I don't post pics of my kids on FB or my blog where you can see their faces. I do have photos of them on my personal account though, obviously. I have been meaning to remove my cover photos with them in it and my profile pic. There are some scary people out there and I just don't want to take the risk.

    ReplyDelete

Hello! Thanks for popping by, I love hearing from my readers. Feel free to leave your comment here :)