Are you a pet rescue volunteer or just an animal lover who likes to help needy animals by sharing their photos on Facebook? Facebook has become one of the largest networking platforms for rescue groups, pet transportation groups, and animal welfare advocates of all kinds. If you have lost or found a dog or cat, you can post a photo and description on Facebook and within minutes it has the potential to reach thousands of people in your community and beyond. Unfortunately, rescuers and animal advocates are frequently held up by the fact that the person posting the photo hasn't used security settings that allow others to "share" or "cross-post" the photo or information quickly. Many have found that when asking someone to change the security setting on the photo to "public" so it can be shared freely, many Facebook users haven't learned how to change security settings. So, this article is meant to help all who use Facebook to share photos and information to help rescued animals. This information is also useful for anyone who posts any important non-animal photo or information that they want to be shared across the Facebook "world".
Remember that posting a photo as "public" will allow anyone on Facebook to view that photo and will allow "friends" and "non-friends" to see it and share it on their personal Facebook walls. This is a good thing for pet rescue because you want the pet to be seen far and wide. Rest assured that all your other personal photos on Facebook will not be visible to strangers by making one photo public. Facebook security settings allow you to select the level of privacy you want to use on every single photo, status update, shared link, etc.
If you are uploading a photo yourself to your personal Facebook page:
- Click the "photo" tab above your status update box
- Click "upload photo/video"
- A window will pop up allowing you to find the photo file on your computer and double-click on the file, then the photo will automatically start uploading and Facebook allows you to insert text to post with the photo.
- Before clicking on "post" make sure you select "public" in the "audience selector" just to the left of the post button. (see attached slideshow for visual aid)
- Tag friends that are also likely to share the photo, and lastly click "post".
When posting photos of adoptable, lost or found animals on Facebook, the absolute most important task is to set the security of the photo to "public" which means that you are making that photo public for everyone to see. Whether it's a pet who needs rescue from a shelter, needs to be adopted from rescue groups, or you want to reunite a lost animal with its owner, time is of the essence and using "public" setting allows the photo to spread quickly across Facebook, or "go viral".
If you are trying to "share" someone else's photo of a lost or found pet but the privacy setting won't allow you, ask that friend to change the setting to "public" or send them a link to this Examiner article for details.
If you want to share someone's public photos:
- Click "share" under the photo
- A window pops up that is automatically set to share the photo on your personal wall
- Where it says "write something", type in the contact person's name, phone # or email address, or put "see contact info below" if the photo already has contact person attached.
- Check to make sure your privacy setting for this post is set to "public" (left of the "post" button)
- If you are sharing a photo from a Facebook friend's wall, you will also be given the option to "tag" people in the photo you are sharing to your wall.
- Click "post"... YOU DID IT!
For those who are new to Facebook, the privacy control setting is found right next to each thing you share (It's an gray icon to the left of the post button--see attached slideshow for visual aid). That is your "audience selector" where you choose who can see what you're sharing. The "public" setting is represented as an earth-shaped icon and that is what you want to click on. The audience you choose appears along with your post. You can also use the tool to change who the post is shared with after you post.
You can also share a photo to a "fan page" (like a rescue group or a lost and found page) by following these steps:
- click on the photo to open it in a bigger window
- right click on the photo and in the drop down menu, select "Copy Image URL"
- close the photo then go to the public fan page on which you want to share the photo
- right click in the post window where it says "write something" and in the drop down menu, select "paste" and then click "post" and the photo will be posted on that page. Do not use the photo upload option when copying and pasting a photo's URL because it will not work. You have to paste the URL in the post window as if you are writing a post. It's also helpful to type in the contact person's info below the URL before clicking "post".
Another important step in sharing rescue photos and connecting pets with owners or adopters, is to make sure to type in the primary contact person and their phone # or email address, otherwise all your friends will contact you. If you are the rescuer, you want people to contact you about the pet, but if you are just sharing or cross-posting, make sure to copy and paste the contact person's info into the text area to attach it to the photo.
Helping adoptable pets or lost/found pets can be very rewarding and Facebook is a wonderful networking tool. You can also share text-only posts from public pages or friend's personal pages by following the same steps as for photos. Please share this article with your rescue friends or animal lovers so everyone knows the best way to share needy pets on Facebook.
Did you lose your dog? Read this article: http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-find-your-lost-dog-fast
Did you find a stray dog? Read this article: http://www.examiner.com/article/if-you-find-a-stray-dog-take-these-impor...
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