When I first started this blog, I made a few conscious decisions:
1) I wasn't going to tell anyone I knew about it.
2) I wasn't going to post pictures of my kids (or use their full names).
I still haven't really told anyone I know about it, except my BFF, but I've definitely decided to post some pictures. I also do use their full first names.
When you post pictures on the internet, you do open up a sea of issues in terms of privacy. My pictures (for some odd reason) get picked up by Google Images -- and then they become searchable. And there are many bloggers that I know (and love), that have had their photos swiped and used for not-so-good.
Point is, when you post photos, there's a risk.
I recently spoke with Tracey Clark and Kate Inglis from Shutter Sisters who shared some helpful hints about posting photos on the internet. In fact, if you do post photos, you NEED to read this post.
But another option, if you're looking to share photos privately is Kinzin. Since I don't have a huge issue with posting photos (although I don't post them that often and I'm very careful which photos I post), my interest was that Kinzin (for a small fee -- like $2.99/month per address -- WOW!) will send your uploaded photos -- up to 10 -- to a physical address.
Yes, REAL LIVE PHOTOS!
To me, this is worth the entire service, mainly because my in-laws and my mom (well she doesn't complain, they do) ask me about photos of the kids ALL THE TIME. Then I send them via email and they print them out on paper and put them in an album.
EW. That's just sad.
Or they print out their own terrible pictures (not that mine are any better, but honestly, they are).
So, for 5.98/month (grab this deal now), you can load up to THREE physical addresses into the system and they will each get 10 photos per month. That's just plain awesome.
Now the free service, the actual website part, is also pretty cool. I've got pics loaded of the kids and the only people that see them are the people that I invite. They can't invite anyone. In fact, they can't even forward anything. It's ME ONLY. That's it.
I decided to do Quinlan's artwork on this because I've been meaning to keep track of it and I wanted to make a blog, but honestly, I didn't feel the need to have to share it with the world. I wanted the people closest to her (and her) to be able to see them.
Granted, my son broke the camera before I could take pics, but I've got a camera now and I'm ready to go. It will be a bit of a project, but I think the service is great for those types of things -- sharing family photos, stories, etc. that you don't want the world to see.
Plus, it's free.
Now, using it was fairly easy, although I did find just a few glitches -- mainly that you just have to take your time and work with the system. If you have a slow operating system, you may have issues. But, folks said that the email notices they received when I signed them up were fine -- and they were able to easily view the website (always important for services like these).
I truly recommed this site, particularly the physical address service. My in-laws got the first set of pictures and they were extremely pleased. And if you know my in-laws, that's no small feat. And now, you can also get your pics printed with TITLES on them -- just in case your in-laws, like mine, have no clue what's going on.
Let me know if you sign up -- I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you have any online safety tips, share those too.
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