Do you need legal rights to pictures in Facebook posts
-
When I add an image to a Facebook post (for a FanPage) does it need to be something I own or have credited, or can I use whatever images I like?
Is this something that is at all monitored?
Thanks!
-
...it's perfectly acceptable to link and then attribute the image.
This is incorrect. This is theft.
...it seems to be acceptable.
It is not acceptable. Can cost you $150,000 and the copyright holder does not have to prove financial loss.
You better be careful.
-
Highland,
I understand what you are saying, but fear it draws some poor conclusions.
While you can give attribution, that will not protect you if you are using someone else' copyrighted material for a commercial enterprise. Attribution, like with an infographic for example is more of an Internet term of art.
If, given the broad question Sara asked, they use someone's material in a way that could be construed as an endorsement of their fan page, there will be a problem. The bigger issue is not even penalty or being scared. If it is not yours, why would you use it without permission? Yes, there are ways you can use it with attribution, but the question is overbroad to say that it is perfectly acceptable. A big question for me, based on your answer, is how is a commercial Fan Page on Facebook different than a website?
Best,
-
I dunno that I would be as scary as Robert about it. With Facebook, it's perfectly acceptable to link and then attribute the image. This way nobody sees it as your image.
I would not do this on your website but, within social media, it seems to be acceptable.
-
Sara,
You need to use images that are either yours, you bought from a seller of images, or are in the public domain without copyright. A FanPage is a commercial endeavor and as such you will have no protection IMO if you use someone else's copyrighted material.For basic images, you can use a supplier like IStock, etc.
Whether or not it is monitored is not the issue. Understand that if it were your image and I took it to use somewhere without your permission, whether or not I am caught does not change what I did. Also, if I am eventually caught, I had better be prepared to pay if the owner believes they have been harmed in any way and brings an action against me.
Hope this helps,
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Facebook Page - About/Description/General About/Mission - Questions
Hi, Im just setting up a FB fan page for a client How terrible is it to use clients websites home page descriptive copy as the Facebook page long description ? Language is in Turkish which i don't speak so i'm not able to edit a new version of it just for FB and no budget to hire Turkish speaker to come up with something. So was going to copy & paste but that would be duplicate with HP obviously. How important is it to fill in 'Mission Statement' & 'General About' ? Especially if long description likely to already include that info ? I think long descrip is important for FB pages on seo etc etc but a good one eliminates importance of 'Mission' & 'General About', or is it still advisable to fill these in or are they just extra boxes for flexibility ? I take it when it comes to securing a vanity url (once we hit 25+ fans) for a foreign language version FB page it should ideally be brand name (which includes a keyword) in the local/target language ? The page name is already the brand name in English but since contains keyword is it best to rename into local target language similarly to the url for consistency and local targeting or better to keep one in Turkish and one in English ? Many Thanks Dan
Social Media | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Videos perform poorly on facebook...why?
I have a facebook page with 42,000 Real fans. Images, screenshots, links, questions, etc all perform well. But videos get 0 interaction. If I get 5 likes that is saying something. Why would facebook not send out my videos to people? Is there a way to increase them? It is very frustrating to post our youtube videos to get no response. My fans are most 13-30 yr old gamers, so videos should be right up their alley.
Social Media | | Atomicx0 -
What to Post on Facebook for maximum traffic/likes
Hello, I am just now starting on my facebook page for my personal development coaching website. Here it is: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bob-Weikel-Associates/217292791620485 I have to be careful not to spam my collegues and friends with like requests. How do I get started gaining relevant traffic and likes?
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
Facebook "like" discrepancy
This is a pretty stupid question sorry, but hopefully it is easy to resolve: Both OSE and Woorank list our site as having 17 Facebook likes. The Facebook icon on the page shows 92 likes. Our Facebook Page shows 560 likes. Where is the 17 number coming from?? our page is: http://www.GoldMaxUSA.com/ Thanks, Jason
Social Media | | JFritton1 -
Good idea to include links in Facebook posts teaser-text?
Hi guys, I'm wondering; is it a good idea (for the engines primaliry) to include links with targeted keywords in facebook posts. From a user perspective I would say it's not desirable. But I'm wondering how Google and co treat links which they find there. They are nofollowed, yes. They are indexed however but when I want google to show me the text-only version of the cached page I receive an 404 error which is odd. Anybody else getting the 404 from google? Eg. clicking on this cache-URL: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jsC_26QVKbgJ:www.facebook.com/echoonline/posts/156674087731661+site:facebook.com/echoonline&cd=3&hl=de&ct=clnk&gl=de&client=firefox-a and then on "text only" leads to this page which does not exist: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/echoonline/posts/156674087731661?_fb_noscript=1 Looking forward to your ideas on this topic.
Social Media | | jmueller0 -
Facebook Check-In Changes
Can someone please direct me to a good article on how the recent facebook changes to how check ins are calculated affect SEO? Or even give me an explanation here?
Social Media | | HamiltonIsland1 -
Need advice about publishing free images
We produced a Movember poster to use at our showroom to encourage customers to donate, and I published it on some of our blogs as to raise the profile of our campaign. We've been getting loads of hits from people searching for "Movember poster", but as it has our branding on it won't be much good to them. It's a good image which has been making people laugh, so I think it's worth publishing an unbranded version which people can use freely so long as they link back to us if they use it on a website. Obviously I can publish the unbranded version of the poster on our own websites, but I think it might be worth publishing it on free image sites as well. I've got no experience dealing with image publication, so just wondered if anyone can give me any suggestions about the best way to go about it.
Social Media | | StoresDirect0 -
Can you have FB Comments post to a business page?
I am looking into incorporating Facebook Comments into my site. When commenting it gives the option to the commentor to post it on their FB wall. Can it be setup to post everyone's comments on my site on our FB business page? I tried to use the commenting tools while logged in as a page, but it said I had to be logged in as a person. If not, how do I get notified someone has commented on my website through FB Comments so I can reply?
Social Media | | TheDude1