Facebook Question

[Patti Edens]

I have avoided Facebook up until recently. Some of my family members talked me into joining.

I joined. I immediately went in and set all of the Privacy Settings to very restricted - Friends Only or some of them to just me.

Then I got "friended" (Is that a word? I am a Facebook illiterate.) by a few family members. They said they couldn't write on my wall. I didn't know I had a wall. Okay, I relaxed one of the Privacy Settings I had at just me to Friends and now they can write on that wall.

So, here comes the problem...

A person that is a photographer and is friends with one of my family members asked to be my friend. I said okay. Now she is "tagging" my photos. There are no people in my photos, but she is tagging them as if she is in them or something. I didn't understand this or why she was doing it.

I untagged them and sent her a message asking her why she was doing that. She said it was just so that other photographers that she was friends with could see them because she and her group liked to look at and discuss photos. She said she would never take my photo or use it since she was a photographer and understood copywrite law.

Is it okay to let people "tag" my photos? If not, how can I stop it? I can "untag" them, but that is after the fact.

I enjoy seeing the comments and photos that my family members post so I would like to continue to be on Facebook, but I would appreciate any advice or help in managing a Facebook account and how to best choose the Privacy Settings.

[mmuhlenkamp]

Hmm... I've never had an excessive "tagging" issue on FB before, but I also don't put many nice photos up there anymore because anything you put on FB becomes their property basically. I always link to my website gallery if I'm going to share a few photos and then people can either comment on the link I posted, or my website. If it's just a random photo that I stuck up there I don't know if I would worry about it.

You can always unfriend the person.

Maybe this will help: How To Avoid A Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster

[ggeen]

I did a quick look through the Facebook FAQ. Unless I missed something, I do not see a way to prevent photo tagging. As long as the photo is viewable by the person in question, that person may add a tag.

Now, you may create a list and use that to prevent specific people from tagging photos by not allowing them permission to view.

See here about how photo tagging works:
Help Center | Facebook

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by mmuhlenkamp

Hmm... I've never had an excessive "tagging" issue on FB before, but I also don't put many nice photos up there anymore because anything you put on FB becomes their property basically. I always link to my website gallery if I'm going to share a few photos and then people can either comment on the link I posted, or my website. If it's just a random photo that I stuck up there I don't know if I would worry about it.

You can always unfriend the person.

Maybe this will help: How To Avoid A Facebook Photo Tagging Disaster

Thanks Melissa! That link is interesting. Luckily I don't have that problem. I like the idea of linking to my website gallery. I also like the idea of unfriending the person, but I hate to hurt her feelings. She seems like a very nice person. She just doesn't understand that I would prefer she not tag my photos.

[BeccaJ]

i never understood the tagging photos your not in thing.

you should be able to maybe...hide the photo album from her? and then she cant see it. she'll just think you dont have any photos. There should be a privacy setting on the individual albums that say....friends only "except" and then you select her.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by ggeen

I did a quick look through the Facebook FAQ. Unless I missed something, I do not see a way to prevent photo tagging. As long as the photo is viewable by the person in question, that person may add a tag.

Now, you may create a list and use that to prevent specific people from tagging photos by not allowing them permission to view.

See here about how photo tagging works:
Help Center | Facebook

Glen, Thanks for the response. I couldn't find anything to prevent it either. I did read the link you provided and it says, "Note that tagging a photo does not change the existing privacy setting of the photo. For example, if a photo is limited to the album owner’s friends only, it will not appear to the tagged person’s friends unless they are also friends with the album owner. "

That is weird because she said the reason she was tagging my photos was so that her other photography friends could see them. I had the album restricted to only my friends. So, now I am still at a loss to understand why she is feeling the need to tag my photos. Maybe she just thinks it will allow others to see them but it really doesn't??? Probably.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by BeccaJ

i never understood the tagging photos your not in thing.

you should be able to maybe...hide the photo album from her? and then she cant see it. she'll just think you dont have any photos. There should be a privacy setting on the individual albums that say....friends only "except" and then you select her.

Thanks Becca. I'll check that out.

[Redneck]

Facebook is about "networking". When you upload pictures to FB you need to be aware of the networking "risks" (I call it "opportunities"). So I would suggest only uploading pictures you really want to spread. Put your watermark or your website URL on the pics and be happy about tagging, it's free advertising for you.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by Redneck

Facebook is about "networking". When you upload pictures to FB you need to be aware of the networking "risks" (I call it "opportunities"). So I would suggest only uploading pictures you really want to spread. Put your watermark or your website URL on the pics and be happy about tagging, it's free advertising for you.

Andre, Thanks for your thoughts on the potential opportunities of using Facebook as an advertising means. I do see a lot of professional photographers using it for (what appears to me anyway) just that purpose. They are scarfing up friends like popcorn and posting photos along with all sorts of opportunities to attend their workshops and buy their photos, etc. It seems like a good way to reach a lot of people for free.

I'm not a pro photographer. I just do it as a hobby and never aspire to sell anything. I just want to share my photos with my family and a few non-family friends. So, as you point out, it is more of a "risk" for me than it is an opportunity. Good advice to only share photos on Facebook that you want to spread.

Thanks!

[janikphoto]

Some people just like to tag pretty photos so they can have it displayed on their page. I think it's dumb, but it's harmless 99% of the time. What I hate is when someone tags everyone they know on a photo of THEIR baby or dog, then everyone starts commenting on it.

I have FB set up to send me email confirmations of updates on posts, and you can't unsubscribe from specific posts/tags/email threads. I don't want to miss out on the posts I'm interested in, but I hate being forced to read the nonsense ones. However, I'd hate to remove my tag and have those people think I hate their dog or something...

[hue-e]

tagging photos really is just a tool for your photos to reach more people, friends of friends, that might not see your photos because they're not your friends. it's a good thing... as long as people can tell where they come from.

I did some senior shots, posted them, but put my wife, his mom, dad and anyone else in his family I could think of in the tagging... that way all their friends that aren't mine, will see them, comment, etc. I just reached a bunch more people than I normally would've through just my wife and I's channels.

[janikphoto]

Originally Posted by hue-e

tagging photos really is just a tool for your photos to reach more people, friends of friends, that might not see your photos because they're not your friends. it's a good thing... as long as people can tell where they come from.

I did some senior shots, posted them, but put my wife, his mom, dad and anyone else in his family I could think of in the tagging... that way all their friends that aren't mine, will see them, comment, etc. I just reached a bunch more people than I normally would've through just my wife's and my channels.

I agree that you can use tagging to your benefit, like free marketing! Other people see the great shots you did and track them back to you.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by hue-e

tagging photos really is just a tool for your photos to reach more people, friends of friends, that might not see your photos because they're not your friends. it's a good thing... as long as people can tell where they come from.

I did some senior shots, posted them, but put my wife, his mom, dad and anyone else in his family I could think of in the tagging... that way all their friends that aren't mine, will see them, comment, etc. I just reached a bunch more people than I normally would've through just my wife and I's channels.

Patrick, That makes sense to me. I am beginning to understand this tagging thing. Thanks for the explanation of a real use of the practice.

[canon_shooter]

Consider this scenario:

If I tag your photo with my name... Anybody that sees your photo will see that I'm tagged and "hopefully" click on my tag. The people that see your photos are probably your friends and not mine... Your friends will see my photos (because I make it available to all) and think "Whoa!" I want this photographer to shoot me - AND - they're friends of Patti!!! It's a sneaky form of credibility marketing.

Of course, I'm not in this person's mind but I'd have to question what the benefit is to tagging yourself in someone else's photo? If it were meant for discussion (as they indicated) - then why not add a link to your photo on their "wall" instead? Everybody's wall is littered with links to things they appreciate. They don't tag those links. Why should your photos be an exception?

Personally, I'd PM the individual and ask that they stop tagging your photo's because you'd like to keep the photo's tagged only with individuals involved and it causes you more work to remove erroneous tags. Discretion is the better part of valor, no? Since she's a fan of your work, show her how to copy and paste the URL from her browser and add them to her wall. Keep your watermark on these images and the marketing should weight in your favor.