Sharing

Use Creative Commons licensing to extend the distribution of your photos.

In most parts of the world, you are automatically granted a copyright on your photos. Yet what if you'd like to allow others to use or modify your photos? Flickr provides a unique feature that allows anyone to do just that, by giving them the option to post their photos under a Creative Commons license.

The default license for all Flickr photos is All Rights Reserved, meaning that others cannot use them unless given permission by the author. Yet you can also change your default license to any one of the Creative Commons licenses that will be applied to any public photos you upload. Alternately, you can select a license for a specific picture by clicking the "Change" link next to your current photo license near the bottom of your photo page.

Before setting up your Flickr account, visit the Creative Commons Web site and educate yourself about the different licenses so you can choose the one that best suits your needs. If you're not sure which license is right for your organisation's photos, the Creative Commons Web site provides a handy wizard that walks you through choosing a license that best supports your goals.

It is important to note that if you use a Creative Commons license on your photos, they can be downloaded by anyone. If you don't want others to download your photos, remove the Creative Commons license on your licensing settings page. By the same token, you should also make sure that you only use other people's Creative Commons images in the way specified. "Some people want to receive payment for their photos — professional photographers for example," said Champ. "Other people just want their photos used. Creative Commons helps define that. But, be sure you are using the license correctly because you can bring the wrath of the community down on you and that has happened. If you think you can use an all rights reserved photo and no one will know, you're wrong. People are pretty good at finding their photos." (You can monitor the use of your photos on Technorati, by setting up a Google Alert, or by using Flickr Stats.)

While the Creative Commons licenses means that you don't need to formally ask permission, it's a good idea to contact people through the system to ask them how they would like to specifically be attributed. Do you want your real name or screen name? Do you want it to link back to a particular page? It isn't necessary given the way the license is. "It is a good thing to communicate, if there is time. There should be no problem," said Champ.

Getting permission is especially important when using photos of children. If your organisation plans to share photos online that depict minors, Champ said, it is essential that you seek consent from their parents first. "It could be potentially very problematical if an organisation posted photos online without the parents' knowledge."

Use the privacy settings and filters to share appropriate photos with other users.

Most organisations use their Flickr accounts to share public photos, but what if you don't want the world to see all of your project-planning shots, or the ones from the staff holiday party? That isn't a problem if you use Flickr's privacy settings, which allow you to make a photo available to the public, includes non–Flickr members); make it visible only to your friends, your family, or your friends and family; or keep it completely private so only you, the account holder, can see it. Privacy settings also control who can tags, comment on, or add notes to your photos.

If you wish to share photos with friends or family only, they must set up a Flickr account so that you can add them to your Flickr contact list. The Flickr Contacts FAQ will walk you through the process of adding people to your contact list and designate them as a friend or family member.

When you upload a photo, you are prompted to fill out the privacy settings. These can be edited at any time, one by one, from your photo's home page, or you can use the Organizr to batch edit your settings. Flickr assumes that you want the world to see your photos, so Public is the default privacy setting. If you prefer, you can start with the opposite intention, keeping your photos private unless you decide otherwise. Simply edit your account default settings in the Account Privacy & Permissions tab on your account management page.

Bear in mind that if you've posted a photo to your blog or Web site (or anyone else has) that was set to "public" and you decide to change the privacy settings, that picture will no longer be available. You can find more about the Flickr's privacy settings and how to use them on Flickr's Privacy FAQ.

Flickr is a global community made up of people from different backgrounds and customs. While certain photos may be appropriate to some cultures, they could be insulting or inappropriate to another. Flickr Community Guidelines places the responsibility of categorizing photos on its members, offering various levels of filtering for safety and content type. How you flag your photos will determine what shows up in the public searches.

Content types help differentiate between photos, illustrations, and screenshots. For example, if you want to upload a screenshot of your computer desktop, you need to flag it as a screenshot. Options for safety levels, meanwhile, include safe, moderated, and restricted, and help determine who will see your photos. See the Content Filters FAQ for additional information.

Use Groups to share your photos with others.

Once you have set up an individual account, you may wish to connect with people at your organisation — and invite others to join you — by setting up a group, a shared space that includes a photo pool and a discussion board. In addition to serving as a "hub" for their organisations, you can also use a private Flickr group to share photos with specific people.

Flickr's private groups are only visible to those invited to join. Public groups allow Flickr members to share thoughts, ideas, questions, and photos with one another. There are two types of public groups: invitation only and open membership (meaning anyone can join). There are thousands of existing groups on Flickr covering every topic imaginable. This includes over 150 nonprofit-related groups about nonprofits ranging from a general nonprofit photo-sharing group to specific groups for nonprofits like The Nature Conservancy and Pink for the Cure.

While you will most likely consider setting up a group with your organisation's name and logo, it is well worth searching to see if anyone else has started a group on a topic related to your organisation's programs. If you decide to set up a new group, you can do so using the Groups tab at the top of your profile page. First-time users will be prompted with a screen that walks you through a step-by-step procedure for setting up a group.

Whether you are setting up a new group or joining an existing one, etiquette rules apply. "Be respectful. Don't spam other Flickr users," said Champ. "We have people come in and create a group and run around to 100 other groups and post on a messaging board, 'Come and see my group.' That type of behavior does not work for community building. You have to build interaction in your group naturally and slowly over time. If you plan to invite people beyond your known members and venture into the Flickr community, it is important to be clear with expectations, particularly how people's photos will be used. There shouldn't be an unarticulated expectation that if Flickr members add their photos into group pool that the organisation can do whatever they want with them. If you want to use shared photos on your organisation's Web site, you need to clearly lay out in writing in the group description."

Do not use the group feature to raise funds or to recruit new members, Champ says. "We expect that nonprofits may be using Flickr to feature photos about their organisation's program and may be reaching out to their existing members who may not be Flickr members as opposed to reaching out to Flickr members," said Champ. "Flickr should not be thought of as a place to do fundraising or prospect for new members."

"We started the group in the summer of 2006, and have 6,400 members and 64,000 images submitted as of this morning," said Evan C. Parker of The Nature Conservancy, which maintains a large and successful group on Flickr. "The group takes in about 80 percent of the images for our annual photography contest, with the rest coming via email. We could have run the photo contest without Flickr, but we really wanted to give our existing members another way to interact with us. We have had really great success on both fronts." Parker added that the organisation is very clear about the how the photos will be used. "Each time we ask for people to submit photos, we tell them how they are going to be used as part of the announcement," said Parker.

Make things.

"There are many ways to get your photos out of Flickr as there are ways to get your photos into Flickr, said Champ. "And because of Flickr's API, we work with many third-party partners who can extract your photos and put them into things — business cards, mugs, journals, calendars, and stickers." These are all ways to extend your organisation's photos, whether making thank-you cards for volunteers or books for special donors. You can learn more on Flickr's Do More with Your Photos page.

You can also use Creative Commons–licensed photos on Flickr in your presentations and other internal documents. Use the Creative Commons search criteria in the Flickr search (found at the bottom of the Advanced Search tool). The best way to find the least restrictive photos is to search only Creative Commons–licensed photos, checking the options "Find content to use commercially" and "Find content to modify, adapt, or build upon." Be sure, however, not to sell any items made without the full disclosure of the artists, even if the photographs are Creative Commons licensed.