Facebook Cover Photos are Public: Users Beware!

Facebook Cover Photos are Public: Facebook Users Beware!

Facebook Timeline brought many changes and the one that is often a surprise is that all Facebook cover photos, both personal profiles and pages, are public.  Facebook does inform you that your cover photo is public at the time you upload it.

What does that mean?

1) Anyone (does not have to be a friend or fan) can SHARE a public photo within Facebook.

2) Sharing a public photo means the photo can be shared within Facebook.  Share OPTIONS given by Facebook:  On your own Timeline, On  a friend’s Timeline, In a Group, On Your Page, In a private message using the Facebook message system.

People do not need permission to share a cover photo.  A non-friend simply can click the image, click the share link and share.

share-public-images-facebook-cover-photos

Why is this important?

Professional photographers who want to keep copyrights on their photos become outraged that a photo is shared “without their permission.”  Someone may use the message system to say they are sharing it but not everyone has messages turned on.  There is a notification in Facebook to the cover photo owner that the image has been shared.

Even social media professionals are  irritated and upset that their personal cover photo showing family members can show up somewhere else on Facebook and they may demand that it get deleted.  You would think that professionals would know the rules of Facebook.  Most social media and marketing professionals don’t know about their own profile cover photo.

What prompted this Likes UP Blog Post?

JP Maroney, a very successful business man and internet marketer was asked to be a presenter as part of a summit going on this weekend.  The promoter created Facebook pages with cover images that had the presenters photo without anyone’s permission.  JP made a personal complaint to the promoter, demanded they immediately pull him from the speaker lineup and REMOVE the fan page.

Here’s what Felicia Slatterly wrote about this situation.

Here’s what the promoter publicly wrote on his profile about it:

I was wrong.
Last week, we embarked on a project to drive traffic to our summit pages to help boost attendance to the event. Based on advice I received, I authorized my team to create fan pages for our speakers, as well as for many others whom I respect and admire. It was our intention to drive traffic to those fan pages and let those pages promote the Summit. It was also our intention to sell the products of those individuals–on these fan pages–to sell their products after the summit, thus creating a win-win for both us and the person we created the fan page for.
We were wrong. We screwed up. And I offended a lot of people that I respect and admire. First, we did this without their knowledge. Common courtesy would require that we let them know what we’re doing–regardless our our good intentions.
Next, while each page clearly stated that it was a fan page, when the team made posts, they appeared as if they were made from the individual person–not the fan page (i.e. “john doe” instead of “fan page of john doe”). That was totally wrong, and while I was unaware of the way the postings were executed, it’s still my responsibility.
Additionally, we should have posted something on the fan page that would have indicated that the fan page was not authorized by or affiliated with the individual.
We also used the picture of the individual that we created the fan page for. I’ve been reminded that that was completely wrong, given that their picture belongs to them and is their copy written material.
I screwed up big time. I never had any intention of offending anyone, but that’s probably an understatement of what I’ve done. It was the wrong thing to do–what could have been a terrific joint venture opportunity for our company and each of the people involved has turned into one of the most damaging things I could have done for both my relationship with these people–who I respect– and our business dealings.
I apologize. I exhibited poor judgment and bad oversight. I talk about having good, clear communication and instead of demonstrating that, I did just the opposite. I apologize to each person we have created fan pages for. I apologize to each person that read our posts, as they were misleading. I apologize to each person that has registered for the Summit, as they should have expected better from me. And I apologize to my team, who deserved better leadership.
I have been asked to create a video to illustrate what I have done. I don’t want it to be construed as making light of my actions. It will be posted here shortly.

Once again, I completely acknowledge my failure to act in a professional and honorable fashion with some of the people I respect most.
I apologize and I hope to make it right with each of you.

It Goes Beyond Facebook

If other people are creating fan pages with your photo it becomes public and is out of your control.

Every cover photo is PUBLIC so it can be shared within Facebook and ALSO gets picked up in the search engines and Google Images.

Yes, Google images picks up every cover photo in Facebook.

facebook-cover-photo-public-image

The Moral of This Story

Only use a cover image that you want shared with the world.

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