Post Proper Pictures on Facebook

December 2012 — Tip of the Month

Facebook makes it easy to share photos with your friends. However, choosing which photos to share isn't always so easy. To make matters more confusing, you can publish cover photos, profile pictures, wall photos, or photo albums. How do you know where and what to publish? The following guidelines can help you post pictures like a pro.

Where to publish your photos

Cover photos - Ideally, cover photos should be wide photos of landscapes or places you've been, which provide a good background for the top of your profile. You can also use group photos or photos of friends, though these are better saved for albums.
Profile pictures - Profile pictures should primarily be photos of you. After all, this is the photo that shows up next to all of your posts in the News Feed and your friends' timelines. Your profile picture can include one or more friends or your significant other, but you should be prominent enough to easily recognize.
Wall photos - Wall photos are good for random postings, such as when you are are at a sporting event or visiting a unique place. If you plan on publishing several photos from an event, you should probably save them for an album.
Photo albums - Most of your photos should be published to albums. You can create separate albums for specific events, like birthday parties, or for a certain duration of time, such as your summer vacation. Good album titles often feature a basic description and date, such as "Summer 2012."

What photos to publish

Use discretion - Never publish a single photo without reviewing it first. Remember, this is the Internet - everything you post can be viewed by random people anywhere in the world. Even if you delete a photo, other people may have already copied it and republished it, so you can never assume you have complete control over the photos you post on Facebook. Therefore, don't publish any photos you may regret showing the world. Also, don't publish photos that make others look bad, since that is an easy way to lose friends, both on Facebook and in real life.
Use quality control - Do you have a bunch of photos that are out of focus or so dark you can't recognize anyone in the picture? Do us all a favor and don't publish them. Publishing low-quality photos is for noobs and may reflect poorly on you.
Keep them interesting - Most of us take far more photos than we should. Therefore, they shouldn't all make it to your Facebook profile. Instead, keep your profile engaging by only publishing photos that are unique and interesting.
Avoid duplicates - So you visited the Eiffel Tower. That doesn't mean you have to publish all 200 photos of it. Instead, choose the best ten or so and publish those with helpful captions. The same thing applies to photos of you with your friends. There is no need to share eight pictures of you and your friend taken back to back, or even two of them. Choose the best one.

When posting photos on Facebook, remember less is more. If you never delete your old photos (which most people don't), your Facebook photo tally will only increase over time. Therefore, unnecessary photos will simply clutter up your Facebook profile. And always think before you post. If a photo is not especially flattering of yourself or someone else, it's probably best not to share it with the world.

- Per Christensson