To tell them to take this off Facebook

[justinhawkinsnavalfluff]

My DS is in primary school. One of the mums has set up a Facebook page so parents can share information. I have no problem with this, in fact I think this is really good idea. However the mum who set it up has posted a picture of all of the children on the page without seeking any parents permission. I am furious - is it really that much to expect someone I don't know v well to check they have permission to post a picture of my DS for the world to see!?!?

Complete overuse of the word 'mention'. Sorry.

McBalls she must have taken it at the school play.

1. where did she get the photo from? is she acting officially on behalf of the school in setting up the page?

2. i thought you had to get permission off parents for stuff like that?

ah xposting. this is a photo she has taken herself. i very much doubt the school woud be happy about her setting this page up in their name using a photo that no permission was given for.

YANBU

what do you think will happen having his photo, no wait, a photo involving him on facebook?

I don't really see what the risk is of having a photo online! Ok I wouldn't want the ones I have of ds running around the garden like a maniac in his pants online, but most of the photos we take, he is appropriately dressed and I really don't see the problem!

Birdsgottafly you decided to go over to Twitter for privacy reasons? Did I read that right?

Because Twitter is even more open and less private than FB. Including picture sharing and all conversations being available for all people to view.

Do your governors actually understand what Twitter is and does?

Birdsgottafly How is that going to work then?

There is no privacy on Twitter at all? Anybody doing a harsh tag or any other search relating to your school will then see everything.
The idea of twitter is like you are standing in the market square shouting.

This blog has some general information on Twitter use and other social media, including Facebook.

But I am curious to see the reasons behind moving your your school from Fb to Twitter.

I don't think yabu in that permission should have been sought from each parent first. My school has a very clear 'take photos but don't publish on social media sites' for parents at school events. They had us sign permission slips for our dc's photos to a) be taken and b) used on the school website when the dc started preschool and again for reception. They know whose pictures they can and can't use.

Whilst I don't have a problem with my child's picture being taken and used, I know (through friends who are foster carers) of 'in care' children who have been removed from their parents and for who having their picture splattered across the Internet would mean they would easily be found. We were told simply so we didn't make that mistake.

In the example of your mum, her naivety could put these children at risk.

Birds - are your school using twitter as they think its more word based? Ie they can tweet to say 'school closed due to snow' etc and are less inclined to put photos up?

My children's school only uses Twitter.
They tweet, parents follow them.

They only tweet the same sort of stuff they would put onto the school website, but Twitter means that parents can choose to get instant notifications, for example if the coach has broken down on the way home from a school trip and they'll be two hours late.

Easier than texting 90 sets of parents, and apparently it's easier than sending a parentmail when they're out and about.

Ask the school to deal with it. Its a child protection issue!

What do you fear will happen as a result of this photo which includes your son being on Facebook?

Threebee: did you sign anything about photos when he joined? As it's quite possible there was a photograph useage form when he joined? there should have been anyway! We need parents permission but don't bother taking photos as they all take enough between them (explorers)!

I don't think yabu op. I also don't think that you need valid reasons for not wanting things on facebook without your permission!

threebeeonegee most schools in my area use whole school texting, where you can select or set up groups of people to text (for example, parents of children in the football team, parents of year 3 children, etc).

It works brilliantly in my school.

Why are people not reading the whole thread about why for certain families and their children it is imperative - not just a preference - to have their privacy protected?

I did tick a box on a form to say that photos could be used by the Scout Association and Scout group for their own literature & publicity. Which I suppose this was, at a stretch.

If a parent or carer hadn't ticked that box, for example in the situation I described above, then hopefully the leaders would have ensured the child wasn't included in the photo when the local press took it.

I've just set up a Facebook page for our preschool, however, as it is about the fundraising aspect and information sharing such as reminders for inset days, newsletter being posted there etc and specifically not about the children iyswim. There is a strict 'no photographs of children unless with express permission' agreement in setting it up. The same with our new Twitter account. We're using both as another way of communicating quickly and easily with as many people as possible, with a few generic photos thrown in when we run an event and what we buy with funds raised.

I think I would say something and point out that if this is about information sharing for parents, then keep it that way, with no photograpphs of children unless you permission from all the parents/careers involved.

Suburban, the OP hasn't indicated that hers is one of those "certain families", which is why I asked the question I did and, I presume, why others have posed similar questions.

FJL203, if OP's family was one that needed privacy for any ofthe reasons listed upthread, I doubt she would say so on MN.

My experience of Twitter is that Tweets just disappear into massive amounts of other tweets and drown.

Well, Quint, you can use TweetDeck or Hiitsuite to create a column of just Tweets from on person or a list, so it's actually very good for disseminating information.

But people have to know how to do that, of course.

Yes, but that is quite heavy or advanced twitter use. I think quite high social media awareness is required, and will mean that parents need to use twitter, tweet deck, and log on daily. But of course if the school has done its research and found that most parents do this, as opposed to using facebook, then great. Do they maybe have twitter apps that would stream only certain tweets to their phones?