Protect Your Images From Social Media Websites

Social media networks can be a useful option to get more exposure for your images. There are pros and cons to this method. Always read the terms and policy of social media sites before uploading your pictures.  This way you can prepare to protect your images from illegal usage and copyright issues more easily if this route is taken. Social media websites such as Flicker, Facebook and Pinterest have an agreement policy that you must agree to their royalty free license terms. In other words you give them authorization to use your photos as they see fit say for example such as advertising purpose in which the artist or photographer will receive nil in payment. In my opinion this is just too much of a giveaway just because they allow you to use their service for free by storing your images on their server. The free price tag is simply too high and there is also a risk of losing total control over your photos. If the need of using social media to promote your photos is a strong desire then by all means do so. There are a number of things one can do to protect your images when using social media websites. For starters, never upload the original high resolution of an image. Using an extra large thumbnail image with a full sized watermark will act as a deterrent from image theft and social media administrators from wanting to use your images for commercial gain. Instead, upload only a small quantity of low resolution images to the social media site and provide a link back to your own website if it is allowed. That way if viewers are interested in seeing more of your photos they can visit your website through the link provided from the social media site. Some photo sharing sites such as Flicker will not even allow a link back to a website if it is a commercial site where images are being sold.