What Happens When You Post Your Kid`s Photos On Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg shared sweet photos of their little princess on social media and it’s got everyone talking. With social media being so prominent these days, it’s just so easy to share pictures of your children and no matter where you are most people are doing it – including Mr Facebook himself!

As a blogger mom, I am most probably very guilty of over-sharenting…. but hey, I’m not showing off, I’m merely doing what everyone else does on Facebook… but instead of me posting pictures of my newest pair of stilettos I’m posting pictures of my two little cutie pies who my whole world actually revolves around right now!

Every time I post a picture though, there’s a small part of me that wonders whether or not I am doing any harm by posting and although Facebook offers many privacy settings, there is no way to guarantee that my children’s photos will not be seen by people which I didn’t intend to share it with.

While the risk of sexual predators stalking children after seeing their Facebook photos is minor, it cannot be completely overlooked. Posting photos of your children can also open them up to other dangers… such as identity theft. Depending on the picture, you are also potentially sharing your children’s location which puts them in danger of potential stalkers.

If you are going to post, here are a few tips for what you should be checking before you post:

1. Make sure you do not post personal identifying information such as their full names and birth dates. Do not tag them in pictures. Your real friends know their names anyway.
2. Tighten your security settings. You should also consider creating a separate friends list on Facebook to ensure that only the people you know in real life have access to images of your little one growing up. Also make it clear to friends and family that they shouldn’t share your photos further.
3. Do not use the “Check In” option on Facebook when posting, as this will give a potential stalker a time stamp of where you and your kids are at and what they are wearing.
4. Turn off the location setting when taking pictures or videos of your kids.
5. Do think twice before you tag pictures of the children of your friends and relatives. They might not want you tagging their kids for the very reasons mentioned above. Rather send them a link to the pictures on Facebook and they can tag themselves in place of their children if they want to.