Today I found a social media privacy problem between Pinterest, IFTTT, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram. These are the only accounts I have tested so far, but it was a broad enough sample to discuss Internet safety, social media privacy and your information being online. Let me be clear: I’m not a developer, nor a statistician, I’m a social media strategist who is always testing and pushing the different social media platforms to their limits to do the best work for my clients.
Pinterest recently opened their API to allow developers to connect to their platform in new and unique ways. I’m a heavy Pinterest user with several Pinterest specific clients and it is my responsibility to stay informed about how Pinterest operates, as well as any changes or issues with the platform. Knowing IFFTT was one of the Pinterest users with early access to their API, I wanted to test the new “recipe” created by Pinterest on IFTTT for my clients.
IFTTT is a tool that writes “recipes” between social networks and apps using commands, such as the one I used today: “If I like a photo on Instagram, post it on Pinterest.” This command sent it to a public Pinterest board that I created within the IFTTT app. I created an Instagram Love board on Pinterest and was pretty happy when it added my pins. As I sat there and thought about the uses for this new tool, I wondered how it would affect Instagram accounts marked “Private.”
Using Leticia’s daughter’s private Instagram account, I found photos that were non-identifying and liked them. An hour later, I checked Pinterest and sure enough, there were the images from Instagram, the captions and her Instagram name on my very public Pinterest board.
Seeing as how the images were exposed from her private Instagram account, I chose to test a few more of the large social media networks to see if the results were the same.
In testing Tumblr, I was happy to see I could choose if my the Instagram images were to be added privately, as a draft, to the queue, or publicly. They were sent from Instagram to Tumblr via IFTTT and a short while later, showed up on my Tumblr page. (I set the images to publish privately, but have included screenshots for reference.) That being said, there is a caveat to this. I had a recipe written to share my Tumblr posts to this Pinterest board and there for the world to see were her private Instagram photos. Anyone with backend access to my Tumblr can Pin these images publicly within Tumblr.
Then I wrote a recipe for Facebook and Instagram. If I liked a photo on Instagram, upload it to Facebook. With Facebook, I could set protocols for who I wanted to see the photos. For the purposes of testing, I set them to public.
The results were the same for all of the networks. Each time I liked one of the photos on her private Instagram account, they were shared publicly.
This raises a lot of questions about the privacy and security promised us by the various social networks who have privacy settings to allow their users to only share their content with approved followers. What concerns does it raise for parents who allow their children to use Instagram as long as it is set to private?
My concern as someone who works in the world of social media is that these platforms are developed and the real world implications aren’t thought about before their APIs are released to the public. My concern, as a parent, is all of that and so much more. Children whose accounts are private may still have self-identifying information that could allow someone to find out more about them based on images found on Pinterest, Tumbr, Facebook, etc. That’s a lot of content to police.
So that begs the question where is the lapse in privacy/security and who is responsible? Is it Instagram for allowing connections and making private accounts suddenly very public? IFTTT who writes the recipe used to connect the Pinterest API to the Instagram API? Is it Pinterest, Facebook and Tumblr who didn’t set out protocols to work with privacy parameters set by users on external networks? Or is this a combination of flaws by the developers of the independent networks who are trusting the others to have these privacy and security matters already in place?
What we do know, and have always known, is that nothing is ever truly secure or private. Changes to how a social media platform operates opens us up to a worm hole filled with issues. And in this case, the issue is privacy.
Concerned about Instagram? Leticia encourages you to talk to your kids! Read her post: Important Conversations to Have with Your Kids about Instagram.
Wow! That’s not good. Though it does demonstrate precisely what you said-nothing is ever truly private online.
Thanks Kelly! I hope this helps create a conversation among parents and kids about how things that appear private online and via social media really aren’t! It’s a good reminder for all families as we navigate this digital world together!
I’ve had to inform a few people who have private Instagram accounts that each time they ‘share’ that image with their public Twitter account everyone can see it.
Yes! Moving from one social tool to another doesn’t mean that privacy settings carry over from platform to platform. I’m also a bit curious as to why someone with a private IG account would want to share a photo on their public Twitter account! If you want someone to see a photo, wouldn’t you just have a public IG account? #confused 🙂
Some people have private accounts and selectively share photos publicly via other channels. Also, as a brand social media manager, I can tell you a number of people have private accounts and don’t even realize it. They come up to me at public events and want to know why I never like their posts! When we figure out it’s because they have a private account they are shocked. 🙂
Definitely need to get this on some high profile radars. Thanks for the heads up.
I hope this helps create a conversation among parents and kids about how things that appear private online and via social media really aren’t rather than creating a culture of fear.
Education is the best tool we have for children and for ourselves when we’re online.
I can’t thank you enough for writing this piece. Indeed it’s about being informed as parents and having the knowledge we need to have an educated conversation with our kids about pros and cons, risks and rewards of having a social media/online presence.
If we are properly informed than the world is less scary as we work with our kids to ensure that they grow up to be responsible digital citizens.
Wow. Thank you so much for writing this. I switched to a private IG account earlier this year and this is disturbing (but not surprising).
When I read your question, “where is the lapse in privacy/security and who is responsible?” My immediate answer was, “the parents.” I do acknowledge that the services/developers should definitely work on this. I also know many parents allow children that are younger than TOS allows go ahead and use social media, and – like you said – “nothing is ever truly secure or private.” So until the child is old enough to understand that and use SM responsibly, should they be using social media?
Whoa. Nothing is ever truly private on the internet. I’ve been trying to relay that message to my tween, which is difficult in this era of YouTubers and MAGCON fame.
I think it’s a non-issue. The privacy piece is what keeps other people from seeing it, not people you authorize. The IFTTT engine then helps you publicize it, just as anyone could if they copied an image and then re-uploaded it.
The privacy doesn’t keep the people you authorize to see it, and in some cases, share it. It only keeps out the people you haven’t authorized.
Lisa and Letitia, thank you for opening eyes to this enormous gap. As a parent of an almost 12-year-old, this is a great example of why privacy is so important to recognize and respect, and further exemplifies the need to enforce the need to teach kids to STOP AND THINK before sharing. I can definitely see how easily a private account can be shared I other ways, but this new loophole makes it even easier.
So shocking!!!
I am a firm believer that nothing every typed or uploaded ANYWHERE online is ever truly private, but that is a MAJOR coding BUG.
This is critical for parents to know and use as another explanation to their kids why they shouldn’t share anything even remotely “private” online.
I never trust the private accounts, or SnapChat’s auto delete.
We had this long and behold “check yourself before you wreck yourself” conversation before my daughters had Twitter and Instagram accounts, I wanted their accounts to be public AND we have to follow each other.
Education and constant reminding, is a big part of parent’s job in today’s digital world. I only trust my kids and myself.
So interesting. Another reason why my children will have stricter rules than almost all of their friends!
Wow. Just goes to show that what I have told my children is true. If you post it ANYWHERE online – private or not – it will be seen by people you’d never imagine.
Fascinating! As my kids get older, and more tech savvy, knowing the ins and outs of social media privacy is so critical. Thank you!
Thanks for doing the research and pointing this out! I’ve always know ‘nothing is ever private’ – but this example really shows how little control we have over what we share online.
Thanks for this insight! I generally believe nothing is private anywhere but having it validated just confirms it.
Another good reminder that social media is public, no matter what settings you have. This also reinforced my decision to not post pictures of my children online and to use nicknames for them on my blog and social media sites. Thanks for sharing this information. 🙂
A girl was bullying(well being a bitch) to my daughter on instagram. I found out that she had her account marked private but was happily harrassing other people on their accounts. However…since I new her name, I googled her and oh look..her PRIVATE insta photos all over google images. I assume because she had shared them on other platforms. We left it at that …basically told the girl that might be silly to harrass a girl whose mom WORKS with social media and enjoyed looking at her photos and to be more careful with how and what she shared on line…..big lesson for parents and stupid girls.
Well researched article. Thank you for taking the time to research and share this information.
Wow – this is such an informative article. Thank you for bringing this to light.