We know you’ve been working so hard doing everything you can to get more followers on Instagram, but do you know that there are consequences for being famous? One of those consequences is people will start using your content without your consent.
Taking and profiting from someone else’s content without their permission is supposedly a bad thing to do, right? Well, according to Insta’s ToC, anyone can do just that with the pictures you posted there.
Your Instagram Pictures Are Free To Grab
That’s right, folks. Every picture you put on Instagram is up for grab and there’s no obligation to reward you either.
“So what? I’ll just label my content as private”
Sorry, but that won’t protect your content. The label “private” simply marks your account so that only your followers can see your content. If one of your followers grab all your content and put them all in their blogs without telling you, their actions are well within the ToS.
“So, what do I do now?”
Well, in terms of preventing others from using your pictures without permission, there’s absolutely none. You can, however, watermark all your images from now on.
Watermarking your pictures is not about stopping people from grabbing those pictures. Watermarking is to let people know who the real owner of the image is. Regardless of where the image will pop up on the internet, people will know that you’re the rightful owner. It’s a small consolation, we know, but there’s no other solution.
“Wait, is this all a problem to begin with?”
If you’re making money from the content you post on your Instagram account, then yes, it’s a problem. Most Instagram users are not making money off their accounts, so this is a problem for a quite small set of users.
Or is it?
When your images are posted by big shots on other social media account and they give proper credit plus a link to your Instagram account, you’ll win big time. Many major artists reposted interesting stuff their fans put on social media, and those fans ended up getting a ridiculous amount of followers.
But not all goes as well as that example.
What if someone steals your images and plasters them on a website selling snake oils? That may hurt your reputation especially when you already have big enough followers. On such an event, either request a take down or send an invoice.
All things said social media is all about sharing. If you do not wish for your hard work to be shared without your consent, keep them on your private website. In fact, once you have a large crowd of followers, you should definitely start your own website and brand. You’ll be free to set your own terms as you see fit.
Use Instagram and other social media, including Facebook and Twitter, as lead generators to drive traffic to your site. Then focus your effort on growing that website instead of growing Instagram’s revenue.
Follow us