Over 40 percent of UK parents put photos or videos of their children online. It’s an indicator of how prevalent online sharing is, that last June a new word “sharenting”, meaning when a parent shares news, images and videos of their children on social media, entered the Oxford English Dictionary.

Parents engage in sharenting for many reasons: because they’re proud of their children and want to tell family and friends about their children’s milestones and daily lives; to seek support from and offer advice to other parents; and to store memories. It can also be a source of income. Influencers may earn substantial amounts from brand partnerships when sharing their family lives online.

Decisions about whether, where, and how much to share pose a dilemma for many parents. New parents may find themselves confronted by an uncomfortable paradox: they know sharenting may have implications for their children’s privacy, but find social media to be an important source of support and connection to other first-time parents.

Some parents feel they have no real choice. Increasingly they are encouraged into sharenting by third parties. This includes family, friends, schools, community, the media, and big brands.

More research is necessary to confirm how sharenting impacts children and their privacy. However, sharenting does pose some risks. Some parents have stopped sharenting after discovering their children’s photos have become the target of predators.

Researchers have also discovered that it is relatively easy for third parties to obtain photographs, names and birth dates of children through parents’ Facebook and Instagram posts and to link this information with other online and offline sources to create detailed profiles. New parents considering posting a birth announcement on social media should bear in mind that sharing this information may expose their child to the risk of identity fraud.

Many popular social media providers collect and share information with each other. Sharented information can be collected by companies, which monetise such information to profile children and their families, using their interests and likes to devise target marketing strategies.

What to bear in mind
There are ways to make information sharing on social media more secure. You can turn off geotagging on your smartphone’s camera app so location data does not attach to photos. Another option is to review privacy settings and to limit who can see your posts. On Instagram, for example, adult accounts are set to public by default. Set your account to private if you want your information to be available only to your followers.

Alternatively, consider using one of numerous private social networks designed for families which don’t want to share information beyond a select group of people.

Children’s images and information are increasingly shared not just by parents, but also by family members, friends and schools. New parents may find it helpful to think about how they want their children to be portrayed on social media and initiate conversations with friends and family about how their children’s information will be shared online, before their child’s birth. This may avoid conflict at a later stage.

It’s also worth thinking about the impact your posts might have in the future. Babies and toddlers can’t tell you what they think about your posts — so as their privacy steward you need to consider how your posts might affect them.
When you share children’s information online you are creating your child’s digital identity, a digital footprint which will follow her during her entire life.

Consider whether your child will want friends or future employers to see the information you shared of her as a baby. When teenagers start to develop their own identity they may become particularly concerned about privacy, and about how the way they are portrayed online may affect their friendships and relationships.

Avoid information that is over-revealing or private, or that might upset or embarrass your child in future, such as potty training, tantrums, nude or semi-clothed images, and images that might make them look unattractive.

Children in pictures
Some research has been conducted to investigate what young people think of sharenting. Some respondents say it can be positive, if they’re portrayed well and the revealed content supports a positive online image or identity. Some children say their parents’ posts make them feel happy and proud, while others appreciate that it can help them connect with the extended family. One child of a parent who blogged online about her family said it can be “pretty cool… like having a big family of people who’ve been watching me grow up.”

However, some children are apprehensive that sharenting may cause embarrassment and anxiety. A growing number want their parents to ask for permission before posting. One who didn’t think that sharenting had a negative impact said that it can mean “a different type of growing up” and is not something they would do as parents.Once you feel your child is old enough to express a view, speak to her. Finding out what she does and doesn’t want you to post. Doing so can avoid irritation, frustration, misunderstandings and conflict.

Explain who you want to share information with and why. The NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children) family online agreement, which prompts parents and children to agree a strategy before posting information online, could be used to start conversations about sharenting from early age.

Claire Bessant is associate professor of law, Northumbria University, Newcastle (UK)

(This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license)