Selfie here, selfie over there, babies over here, kids over there ... Few parents resist showing their offspring to the world through the Internet and from different platforms. Instagram is one of the most popular networks in the world and, or things change a lot, or in a few years our children will use it, as many of us already.
This popularity has made the network publish a "Guide for parents on the use of Instagram", focused on parents who want to know the use that their children make and how to help them not to make mistakes, but that comes perfectly to apply the story ourselves and be aware of many important aspects when sharing photos.
With 300 million users, Instagram is also successful among the little ones. But do we know what are the mistakes to avoid? Do we make responsible use of Instagram? With this basic information we can take advantage of this network properly and transmit to our children how they should do it, when the time comes.
Here we leave some basic notions to correctly use Instagram And remember to configure privacy if you want to:
By default, photos and videos that are posted on Instagram are visible to everyone (unless they are shared directly). This means that your photos and those of your children can be public. But if you prefer to previously approve people who want to follow you, you can also make your account private.
Instagram Direct is private by default. But even if what you post is private, your profile is public (everyone sees your profile picture, your username and your biography), so if you don't want your children to leave, don't post them on that profile picture.
Respect the privacy of others. If you are going to post a photo in which another person appears, make sure you don't mind if you do or tag it. If the photos are of children that are not yours, you should have express permission.
Weigh the effect of what you post and content shared outside of Instagram. If you have activated the option to share in other places like Twitter or Facebook, those photos will be visible again unless you have those accounts also restricted.
What you publish could end up in any place, even if you share something with a limited circle of people, don't publish anything that can bring you problems if someone spreads it.
Remember that there are options such as tagging, blocking users or deleting posts.
Also, keep these questions in mind: do you want to give real-time information about where your children are? Avoid giving details of the child, such as where you study, schedules, your address…
From the Instagram Help page you can download the guide in several languages, a document that has counted for the elaboration of tips with the collaboration of Connect Safely and with security organizations around the world, such as Protégeles in Spain.
Anyway, the Guide for parents on the use of Instagram It can help us to improve our use of the network and reflect on the control of the images of our children that we publish. And if we have older children, we can see if they use it well, talk with them about the subject and prepare the way for our children, in the future, also make responsible use of their own image.
