Friday, August 21, 2009

PSA regarding photos

So if you are new to using Blogger, let me fill you in on something I was unaware of at first. When you upload your photos through Blogger, it automatically sets up an account for you on Google's Picasa Web Albums. The account settings default to public. This means that anyone on the internet can go through your album and download photos.

You can also set your Blogger account to be unsearchable. This means that web browsers will be instructed to skip over your blog during searches. I find myself undecided on the searchable/non-searchable aspect. I want my blog to be there for the honest, good searches (someone pregnant with identical triplets) but I hate that any weirdo can go search google images for pictures and my pictures will pop up. That being said, I try to keep the pictures I post as G rated as possible. That is why you will never see n.a.k.e. d pictures or potty pictures or belly pictures here. I can keep track of all searches through my sitemeter account and if I feel uncomfortable, I can turn the search feature off.

I also found that I was unhappy with how Blogger uploaded my photos. For example, the option for the largest size was not large enough in my opinion and I felt that the quality of the photo was compromised during that upload/resize process. I find myself to be a bit slow on the internet technology front these days but I finally learned that I could have my photos hosted elsewhere and simply copy and past the HTML code to my blog posts. I personally like reading blogs where the photos are larger.

And last but not least, it appears that my photos of the girls' closet have gained the attention of many google image searchers. Here are some of the more entertaining (to me) search terms:
  • A rich girl's closet
  • Organized little girls closet
  • Cute organized closet
  • Cool closets for girls

10 comments:

Bree at Clarity Defined said...

I don't blog via Blogger, but that is a good thing to know about the photos. In Picasa though, you can change your setting to not allow someone to download your picture at full size (Right Click Save As still comes up, but it would be at the preview size).

I host the majority of my pictures at my wordpress from my flickr account which is set to not allow anyone to download (and I'm pretty sure that even prevents the Right Click Save As).

SaraBelle said...

Wow -- I've had my blogger blog for almost 2 years and had NO idea about the picasa piece. I've had mine set not to show up in searches from day one, but I had no idea that my photos were being stored somewhere else. Thanks for this PSA!

Jennifer said...

You're right about the photo size- I love your blog for the pictures. You take very good pictures, and I really enjoy looking at them.

The Power Family said...

Thanks so much for this info! I didn't know about the Picasa thing either. Good to know! Also, while in my Blogger settings making my blog not searchable, I realized they made some new changes to the way that you can post photos, but you have to manually go in and choose to use it. Everyone else already know this? Maybe I'm just behind! It is SO much better though - lets you insert a picture anytime instead of always at the top, upload more pics at once, etc.

The Beers Family said...

Thanks for the info - I had no idea - now I need to go and check these things out!

Brennan S said...

Thanks.
I changed my settings so my photos can't be downloaded.

Mommy, Esq. said...

Don't do what I did - don't DELETE those photos on Google because they WILL delete on your blog. I lost 9 MONTHS of photos!

Just Kristen said...

Thanks! I was not aware of that...For now I went into picassa and changed the settings. I know I need to go back and add watermarks like you, too!

monica said...

I like how big your picture are very cool! Thanks for the info on the pictures had no idea about that!

Anonymous said...

Interesting... my blog is private, and I tried to enter my picassa account before, but it says I have to register (?). I tried signing in under my blog's info but that didn't work.
I wonder if the photos are accessible if my blog is private.

Mommy, Esq- that's awful! What did you do in the end?

I guess I'm a little selfish- I care more about my and my kids' privacy than about people in similar situations/with similar interests being able to find my blog.
Right now we are on a journey to a possible chromosomal disorder diagnosis for my baby, so I might make a second blog that can be searched for by people with such issues, and if they want to read more, I'd have to invite them to the actual blog.