90% of Facebook users hate when friends post photos without asking
Excuse me, but would you mind if I took a picture of you passed out on the floor and uploaded it to my Facebook party album? Thanks!
We Canadians spend a lot of time on Facebook every month — about seven hours on average, according to a study conducted last year. It’s also estimated that more than half our population uses Facebook and we’re connected to nearly 200 friends on average. With that many friends, it’s no surprise that there’s so much posting and sharing going on. Just how much? Around 100 messages and photos every month. And as it turns out, just about everyone wishes their friends would start asking for permission before uploading.
More than 90% of Facebook users polled by Sophos say it’s common courtesy for people to ask for permission before uploading pictures or videos of others. 10% of those polled went a step further, saying that sharing without permission should be illegal — and about the same number of people said the exact opposite. That’s just the way it is in 2012, they said, and if you don’t like it you should probably just stay home all the time.
It certainly would be nice, particularly in those cases where a particular photo could come back to haunt you down the road — say, when a potential employer stumbles across a less-than-flattering image of you enjoying a wild weekend out with your friends. There are, after all, an awful lot of those kind of pictures floating around on Facebook.
Sure, Facebook could probably do something about this with all their fancy facial recognition and recommendation algorithms. You can at least untag yourself from something a friend shares, but all that does is stop the post from appearing on your own profile. It’s still visible on your friend’s for all to see. Asking if you’d like to remove tags also isn’t the default setting on Facebook — so unless you flip the switch you’ll have to keep tabs on all those uploads manually.
But at the end of the day there are dozens of other photo sites that your share-happy friends could use as Plan B. The reality is that with our mobile gadgets, access to the internet everywhere, and social networking sites have slowly and steadily pushed us towards sharing first and apologizing later, rather than taking a moment to find out if it’s OK before clicking post.
How do you feel when friends post images of you without asking, Sync readers? Let’s hear your take in the comments!
[Source: Sophos Photo: Tanel Teemusk]
The way I see it, it is YOUR picture and YOU can do WHATEVER you want with it. Too many of us are so worried about how we look. If it is upsetting to you about people posting pictures of you online, then don’t let people take pictures of you! Odds are, they will end up online. Asking permission to post a picture (in my opinion) is about as stupid as asking someone that has the same outfit if it’s ok for you to wear it the same day they are. Who cares? It’s your property! Do what you want to with it!
Amber.. you must be so young and soooooooooo dunb!
The point of this blog is to offer your opinion on the subject and to open up debate. Not to slam someone for their point of view. How nice of you to contribute to this discussion by calling Amber young and “dunb”. It does nothing but make you old and immature.
dunb…
who’s the dummy now???
By the same token, Amber, one’s image is one’s own property, and one should have control over its private usage.
If one is at a private gathering, or a gathering that would normally be considered private, then invading that privacy by making images of it public is wrong.
Posting identifying photos of someone from such a situation can be considered illegal, if no permission is granted.
News organizations deal with that fine line all the time.
There are limits, my dear. A person with a brain should be able to decipher what is right or wrong. A friend posting it? I think I would be looking for some new friends.
Amber, soory but you’re more than dumb!!!! Asking permission to post a picture is a big deal and so is posting anything on facebook or anywhere else on Internet, one should not do it without o ne’s permission.
What a moron!! You’re obviously under 25. You have no common sense, and no sense of privacy. And you have no respect for anyone, except, perhaps, yourself. Yes dear, it’s all about you, isn’t it? NOT!! First of all, you may not even be aware that a photo was taken of you, and secondly, I own any and all rights to any image or likeness of me, exclusively! You may own the paper my photo is on, but I forever own the image on that paper, or in that electronic file. I will fight tooth and nail to keep my photo off the internet. Any information on myself online is kept extremely private, to whatever degree I possibly can. So far, my approach has worked. my real name can’t be googled anywhere. Not bad for about 18 years surfing the net (almost all your life). Your analogy at the end shows how underdeveloped and immature your brain is. It has never been ok to just snap a photo of someone. In some countries, you can be arrested for taking a photo of the wrong someone. Here in North America, it comes down to being polite and having respect for others. I suspect those concepts are a bit foreign to you. Time to grow up little girl, and join the adults (assuming you’re old enough).
Amber, it’s not always about how many of us are so worried about how we look, but it could it may be a factor of many other reasons. Respect is needed in real life as well as Facebook or anywhere else on line. So you can’t just go by your own opinion. It is not stupid to be a sincere and trustworthy of your friends, family and others.
It’s no different than taking a picture of someone on the street. You have to ask them proir to taking it so for a “friend” to post a picture of you on their page then by all means they need your permission. If you say no and they do it anyway then they should be open to charges.
Personally, I think the subject of the photo is entitled to at least a preview of what is about to be posted. More and more people from outside your circle are turning to Facebook to see just what sort of person you might be. I would hate for a prospective employer to see a picture of me on Facebook acting crazy in some bar, or at a party, with a beer or a drink in my hand.
Great impression. It may not be the way you are normally, but they don’t know that, and chances are you’re not going to get the opportunity to explain that it was your birthday, or a friends birthday, or a celebration of whatever occasion.
The only way a prospective employer is going to see anything about you is if you let them. Set your privacy settings to “friends only” (not friends of friends) and they can’t see a thing. It’s all about security settings.
But johncanadian, Facebook and other sites are forever changing their privacy policy and another person in this blog has mentioned this security problem . I respect your opinion but one needs to be careful because of this reality. Once on line, always on the line.
What I hate is posting a whole series of sayings, some which are very offensive, I do not want them on my page. Also why do I care that Bob is now freinds with Barb ? I may not know or want to know Barb. And who cares if you baked a pie for homeville or other game
I have to disagree. What happens in the privacy of your life should not be put on public display. With all the technology we have access too whether you have a social networking account or not, if a friends posts a pic of you and uses your name then you can be found. Most people strictly use these social networks to stay in touch with family and friends that are not close by. When the world can see your personal life especially employers, permission needs to be granted.
FB should have an automatic notice that sends you an emamil when someone has tagged you along with the photograph. Then you can make the decision to accept or deny.
Cant wait till Facebook goes away. All it`s good for is keeping people with no lives from having one.
Facebook is a joke.
90% of the pictures posted are likely posted without the persons permission to do so.Facebook is a joke and should be shut down.It invades peoples privacy.Facebooks security settings don’t work the way they are supposed to.You block something you don’t want people to see about you and they can still see it when they are not supposed to.
its called security settings so use them, you can untag your self, or not allow them to appear whatever and are employeers really going thru facebook looking for photos of their employees partying on the weekend. Do you want to work for someone that does that.
There is an option on facebook for users to APPROVE before things are posted. Use it, it’s a great feature.
Hopes facebook disappears! Like someone mentioned earlier, people have no lives! People don’t socialize in society as much, they would rather sit on the internet and check status’s of people they haven’t had a conversation with in 2, 5, 8, 10 years plus. When was the last time you have seen kids playing street hockey? Do they go outside anymore? Wonder why obesity is on the rise! Facebook needs to go away, people need more in life then cell phones and facebook. All facebook is doing is making someone else rich! Way to go people, keep playing Farmville!
I definitely think people should require permission to post pictures of others on facebook.
My sister-in-law put up pics of my newborn son within hours of visiting us at the hospital – I hadn’t even had a chance to tell people that I’d had him!
She basically took away my joy of introducing my son to the world and threw it up on facebook for all her friends to see.
Also, thanks to her lack of security on her account, those pictures were viewed by people who were estranged to my husband and that we would have never wanted to see our son’s pictures.
It would be nice if there was a way to be able to claim the photos so your own security features take over and limit the audience.
of course ,it’s not good if without asking.becuase you don’t know how about the picture.
I feel that it is common courtesy to ask someone first before posting a pic. That is how I view it. I usually don’t mind most pics that are posted of me, but there was one case where I felt so violated and disrespected that I mentioned it to the person. Not only did they post and write a description of what the pic was about, they tagged me and it appeared in my photo album! The picture was an event that was highly important and personal. Many of my “friends” are people that I rarely see and they didn’t even know about the event. The “friend” who posted it could not understand why it bothered me. She didn’t care that it was MY choice to tell someone about, when or if I did! She took that right away from me and it caused some friction with relatives and other people that I had on my list of friends. So even if something isn’t “illegal”, it is simply a matter of respect for someone else.
Nice article but I’m not sure that I agree. However, folks consider me difficult at the best of times! Thanks.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great.
I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going
to a famous blogger if you are not already ;) Cheers!
Greetings! I’ve been following your web site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be
happy. I’ve read this put up and if I may I desire to suggest you few attention-grabbing things or suggestions. Maybe you could write next articles regarding this article. I want to read even more issues approximately it!
Do you have a spam issue on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation;
many of us have developed some nice practices and we are looking to swap
solutions with others, be sure to shoot me an email if interested.
Normally I do not learn post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to take a look at and do it!
Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, quite nice
post.