Facebook has announced it is deleting photos “privately synced from your phone” to the website unless you use its new app – but what does this mean?
Well, in line with Facebook’s previous aggressive pushes to get users to download its stand-alone apps (see also Messenger), it’s trying to get people to use its new Moments photo-sharing app.
Photos previously synced to Facebook (but not shared on profiles) were moved across to Moments earlier this year, and now users are being warned that they will be deleted unless they download and login to the Moments app by July 7.
And it seems to have worked – according to reports Moments soared to the top of the free iPhone download charts as this became public, from a position of around 90-100.
Of these, many are likely users who panicked and didn’t know what this meant for them or their personal photos – so what lessons can we take from this?
One, really – always back up your content. Always have it in at least two places so no-one else can delete it or take it away from you.
While we couldn’t have helped in this specific instance as the pictures weren’t posted to profiles, they were effectively just synced with your account, it is a good idea to back up your social media content generally.
And as we offer so much more, including universal search, insights and our new mobile apps, it makes sense to do it with us!
But whatever you choose – stay in control and don’t your data be held hostage. It’s too important for that.