A flurry of posts and tweets followed the announcement on 17 December, with users complaining the move, which appears to give Instagram the right to license any of its 100 million users’ public images, plus those that will be uploaded in the future, to other companies and organizations for a variety of uses, including advertising. Some claim this mimics the activities of stock photo agencies, but without paying the photographer.
‘This obviously has a huge impact on salons currently using this technology to connect with their audience,’ said Valorie Reavis, founder of Linkup Marketing, who also uses the service. ‘Without so much as a notification or a royalty payment, an image of a stylist’s work could end up on an ad for a hair product.’
Users must delete their accounts by January 16 to ensure their photos aren’t sold, but Reavis recommends salons keep using the network. ‘Instagram is still the go-to network for quick image sharing, and with hair and beauty being such a visual industry, it’s the perfect place to connect with current and potential clients and industry peers to showcase any work,’ she said. ‘But to avoid photos being used or sold without knowledge or permission, users should watermark all their images. This keeps the business in the viewer’s mind and makes the photo useless to another company.’
Instagram was acquired by Facebook earlier this year and currently hosts more than four billion images.
Instagram updates its policy after backlash
The recent panic over Instagram's changes to its privacy and terms of service that appeared to give it the right to sell on users' photographs, including hair images, reinforces the need to watermark all photos across all social networks, warns social media expert Valorie Reavis, founder of Linkup Marketing.
The changes, announced just days before the holidays, were interpreted by many as a move to give the Facebook-owned network the right to sell on any images to advertisers without warning and without payment. The following day, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom issued a blog reassuring users that the network was listening and would 'eliminate the confusion.' However it is clear the network still has plans to monetize its service.
'Instagram's response indicates that future advertising efforts will be for and by the user, rather than allowing others to use the images, but none of this will be clear until the updated terms are released,' says Reavis. 'Before we go and delete our accounts, it's probably better to consider how to protect ourselves in case the original interpretation becomes reality. Whether it's Instagram 2013 or another network in the future, copyright is still a huge question mark.'
Users were advised that Instagram's new privacy rules would take effect January 16 and that the only way not to fall foul was to delete their accounts. However, Reavis advises against a knee-jerk reaction. She has now posted advice on how to watermark photos on her blog http://linkupmarketing.com/blog/watermarking-your-photos/
'Instagram is still the go-to network for quick image sharing, and with hair and beauty being such a visual industry, it's the perfect place to connect with current and potential clients and industry peers to showcase any work,' she says. 'But to avoid photos being used or sold without your knowledge or permission, users should use a watermark or apply a brand's logo to the image itself before it gets uploaded to Instagram. This keeps the business in the viewer's mind and makes the photo useless to another company.'
Instagram was acquired by Facebook earlier this year and currently hosts more than four billion images.
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