Fare Use Ruling - Facebook and Social Media

A couple of months ago I was part of a debate that was about if it is wise to post your commercial images to social media sites like instagram and facebook. In that debate I warned against the very liberal licensing terms that these sites used, while others claimed they were actually still very narrow in their interpretation.

I just want to re-echo my warning again about posting on these sites. In the US a state judge has ruled,

"In addition, the court claimed that the RNC's use hadn't impacted Peterman's ability to profit from the image and that Peterman's had published the image to Twitter and Facebook. By publishing the image on social media, the court stated, 'it must be assumed that the MDP, Quist Campaign, and Peterman herself would have welcomed reposts, [etc.] by other pro-Quist social media users.'

The full article can be found on DPReview at https://www.dpreview.c​om …th-unauthorized-image-use

Now I have no doubt that the photographer in question here will appeal, and my ultimately prevail, but this is a very expensive process. Please be very careful about posting images you don't want sucked into common use because of their association with these sites. This is a very bizarre ruling, and could really impact re-use rights on sharing platforms. Just be careful.

BTW, "What's fair is fair", not "What's fare is fare"
Bus fare which is $3 is fair, but discriminatory bus fare which is $300 for rich folks to go across town is not fair!"

Croasdail wrote in post #18831642
Please be very careful about posting images you don't want sucked into common use because of their association with these sites. ... Just be careful.

Be careful about putting any image on the web, as it can be usurped by lots of folks either fraudulently or innocently! I put no image on the web unless I expect it to be stolen, and will not truly mind.

If the winds of politics are any indicator those platforms may soon be out of business anyway...

Wilt wrote in post #18831651
I put no image on the web unless I expect it to be stolen, and will not truly mind.

Good advice.

Better advice would be to avoid Fecesbook and other anti-social media platforms altogether. We have just begun to scratch the surface of their evil...

And FWIW - Rich people don't take the cross town bus, that is a joy reserved for us regular folks.

I appreciate your warning. However .....

I know many extremely successful professional photographers who routinely post their best images to social media. Doing so benefits them greatly, and they actually are hoping for prolific re-posting of their images. They follow certain re-posting collectives, and mark their images with the collectives' hashtags, in an attempt to get their images re-posted. There are actually guides you can buy that tell you what methods work best to ensure that your images will get a lot of re-posts.

The photography market has changed drastically over the past few years. Many photographers make the lion's share of their income from selling seats at workshops (both in-person and online), selling places on guided photo tours, representing product manufacturers, etc. These savvy business-minded photographers realize that their images aren't the thing that's valuable these days ...... rather, the things that are valuable are the photography-related services and products that they can sell online. They use their images to impress prospective customers, and they use social media as advertising.

That's how it works these days. Photos themselves (and the rights to them) have very little value, compared to the "old days" of 5 or 10 years ago. But a large following on social media can be readily monetized. So if they can use their photos to build a following and to advertise what they are selling, then they have discovered the value of social media and are using it to their advantage.

The times when a photograph had great value, and you wanted to protect its rights and carefully monitor its usage ....... well, those days are over, my friend.

Reposting is not the issue here.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18831880
I appreciate your warning. However .....

I know many extremely successful professional photographers who routinely post their best images to social media. Doing so benefits them greatly, and they actually are hoping for prolific re-posting of their images. They follow certain re-posting collectives, and mark their images with the collectives' hashtags, in an attempt to get their images re-posted. There are actually guides you can buy that tell you what methods work best to ensure that your images will get a lot of re-posts.

The photography market has changed drastically over the past few years. ....


The times when a photograph had great value, and you wanted to protect its rights and carefully monitor its usage ....... well, those days are over, my friend.

And I guess that is my point. Post to the web with a purpose. If you are thinking that you will be able to monetize those images via workshops, guided tours, other contracted work, awesome. If you think your images can't be hijacked and used without permission, and that you think you can turn to the courts for compensation to protect your works, be warned.

Just share knowing what you are giving away. "Samples" has always been a way to get customers. The music industry has for a decade used published music with the time of getting to the bigger dollars of shows and events. Many make money off of YouTube.... Just post knowing the risks. Frankly I could care less if others use my works - as long as they are just mine. I rarely post commercial work here because that work isn't just mine and is not just my decision on how it is used.

And what happens when your posted prized photo ends up in every calendar and on place mat and who knows what? All because you posted a photo.

Wilt wrote in post #18831651
BTW, "What's fair is fair", not "What's fare is fare"
Bus fare which is $3 is fair, but discriminatory bus fare which is $300 for rich folks to go across town is not fair!"

Yeah, I, too, wondered about the apparent misspelling of the thread title.

I see "fair" and "fare" mistaken for each other quite frequently. I hate it when people won't use the proper word.

One of the most offensive misuses is when someone says "fair well" when they mean "fare well".

Aren't people educated well enough to know which word is which? Isn't spelling and grammar taught with the same priority and emphasis as it was decades ago?

What I say is only meant for those who speak English as their first language. If someone has learned English as a second language, then any mistakes are quite forgivable. I don't have the discipline or work ethic to learn a second language, so I have a great appreciation for those who attempt to do so.

But seriously, if English is your native tongue, you should know what words to use and spell them properly. A typo is one thing, but ignorance is quite another.

And there is spell check that tries to guess what you meant to type. Don't get too puffed up based on spell checking. I agree, Ignorance is quite another thing.

Whether or not I am a native speaker, just typed to fast, spell checker swapped words, or grew up with dyslexia so spelling isn't a strong suite.... not sure what relevance it has here. But if this is becoming a grammer/spelling critique site.... not interested. I'm am sure there are plenty other sites where one can rant about spelling.

But back to the real topic if we may - I would love to know how many real professional photographers - those that pay their mortgages with their photography - rely on facebook and instagram as their main way of displaying their portfolio. They may be out there... I know there are lots of casual professionals that make some money do it.... but real professionals where photography is the main source of income.... not so many.

Put in some links to these pros facebook sites. Would love to see them and learn from them.

I restrained myself from commenting until "fair/fare" became a topic, but now it is one.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #18831938
I see "fair" and "fare" mistaken for each other quite frequently. I hate it when people won't use the proper word. . . .
Aren't people educated well enough to know which word is which? Isn't Aren't spelling and grammar taught with the same priority and emphasis as it was they were decades ago?

My English classes had so many (boring, repetitive) lessons about fair/fare, your/you're, and the rest of the common homophone errors that I expected all adults who'd attended high school to get those words right every time. Surprise, they don't. I don't think it's a matter of education. Individuals' brains are wired differently. Some people seem to process words by audition when visual processing would produce the right choice.

A curious fact: The misspellings aren't random or phonetic. Someone who confuses "to" and "too" will use the wrong one for the meaning but won't write "tue" or "tu" or "tooe." It's as if the person had both correct versions filed away but kept opening the wrong drawer.

Croasdail wrote in post #18831941
And there is spell check that tries to guess what you meant to type. Don't get too puffed up based on active spell checkers. I agree, Ignorance is quite another thing.

Croasdail, it was you who put "fare" in the heading where "fair" was needed!

I just wish everyone would type proper like what I does.

"Croasdail, it was you who put "fare" in the heading where "fair" was needed!"

Yep...I will own that, and try to live with the shame some how... and I am going to be able to sleep just fine tonight. If that ruined the post for some, sorry. But in the scheme of things.... and you all want to get fixated on that.... thats fine.

I'm here about photography. If my typos and misspellings disturb... feel free to skip right on my and find a post with perfect english.

Croasdail wrote in post #18831941
But back to the real topic if we may - I would love to know how many real professional photographers - those that pay their mortgages with their photography - rely on facebook and instagram as their main way of displaying their portfolio. They may be out there... I know there are lots of casual professionals that make some money do it.... but real professionals where photography is the main source of income.... not so many.

I can't do links at the moment, because I am posting from my cell phone, and I don't know how to copy / paste from it.

But a few such folks come to mind immediately, including Brooke Shaden, Tony & Chelsea Northrup, Ted Forbes, and Jessica Kobeissi.

I'm sure if I spent a few more minutes thinking about it I would come up with several more just off the top of my head.

Some others I know personally, and I would feel awkward naming them here. But one of my friends relies on social media exclusively to market his photo tour business, and another friend relies heavily on Instagram to market his books (which feature his wildlife images and are a significant portion of his annual income).

Tom.... but these people still have professional online portfolios.... such as

http://www.northruppho​tography.com

or

http://tedforbes.com

or

http://brookeshaden.co​m/gallery/

If you want to put forth a professional portfolio which attracts real business, even the YouTube stars rely on a real portfolio site to show off their work. Facebook and instagram just smash the images too much for a real publisher to really make any real judgement from. Maybe social media can be used as a teaser... ( a quasi required one at that ), but they are not the main medium.

Even Peter McKinnon has a normal, full blown portfolio page for his commercial endeavors

http://www.petermckinn​on.com

And actually he doesn't have a portfolio on there... so that's not a good example.