Facebook tags - ooops !
 

My son-in-law has a very common name, and his profession legitimately puts him in touch (Facebook friends ?) with many people.
Today his Facebook page says he was "tagged" in a photo, along with a bunch of (30+) other names of people who were "tagged".
The photo of the girl is sort of risque and has a comment that I'm sure he wouldn't want his wife to see.

First a question: Is this "tagging" by Facebook an automatic software thing,
or is someone manually entering the names of the people being "tagged" ?

I don't know how the younger generation is dealing with such issues on these social web sites,
but I know if that happened on my Facebook page there would be a major storm in my marriage.

Caveat emptor !

This is a major Facebook issue; it's happening to everybody.

Picasa handles it a little differently, by setting up two groups: Friends and Family, and you can make things private to either or both.

Grouping would be nice, but it will be difficult to make it easy to use.

It's not automatic. Somebody tagged him. He can untag himself if he wants to.

Edit: On facebook, you can set up your albums and pictures so that only some people can see them. I've got around 200 childhood pictures on facebook that only my family and a couple childhood friends can see. I had to manually create a group and then only allow that group to see them.

tagging is evil. and yes, you can set up family groups, etc.

OK, I think I understand that, and I'll pass the "untagging" along to him.

But I'm pretty sure this particular picture/caption was posted by the girl that "tagged" his name,
and I know she is not in my "family group". But my son-in-law is in my restricted group,
and yet I'm seeing it all (including the names of others that she "tagged").

Better that than this . . .
from CBS

Sounds like she posted the picture. It will say above the picture and also to the lower right of the picture whose picture it is. One of his friends tagged him. Maybe it was even her that tagged him. Usually the picture's owner does the tagging, but it can be any friend. Since he is your friend, you are seeing it.

Tags? Like these, or is this something different?

Glatt:
OK, thanks for the explanations

Gravdigr:
No, not like those tags.

Just "Xxx Xxx has been tagged in an album" with the picture,
and a link to an album of (similar) pics with captions.

I've been in touch with him about un-tagging himself from that post, and I'm thinking now that if he can do that things will be OK.

Just seems wrong to me that someone can create an really embarrassing situation and post it where other (friends) will see it.
Maybe I'm just too "old school" about things like privacy and reputation.

No, like this:
http://www.instructables.com/image/F...w-graffiti.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/...a1363e26e1.jpg
Lamplighter has been tagged in a photo

But was he actually in the picture, or is it just that he shares a common name with someone that was?
With everyone carrying a camera/vid on their phones these days, privacy is pretty limited for everyone, not just celebrities. Keep your nose clean if you're worried about your reputation. Can't expect others to even know what you plan to keep secret, much less help you out with it.

No, he was not in the picture nor was he in any of the pics of the album. There were no men in the pics of the album
As far as I know he just has a name that is quite common.

Why would having the same name as someone else cause a major storm in your or his marriage?
My name is not at all common, but there are other people who share it. What the crap do I or my family care what pics they are tagged in? I'm confused...

The way facebook works, you don't see pictures of strangers with the same name as you. Maybe if you do a search for those people and then snoop through their pictures, you might see them, but Facebook isn't going to put them in your "News Feed."

You are seeing that risque picture because someone tagged your son in it. Even if he's not in it. It's actually him that's being tagged. Facebook won't let you tag somone in a picture if you aren't friends with them. You can get it so their name appears on the picture, but it won't link to their account, and their friends won't be notified.

One of two things happened. 1. The person who posted the picture and who is a facebook friend of your son, tagged your son in it. Or, 2. someone who is facebook friends with your son tagged him in that picture, and the person who posted the picture approved that tag by another person.

You are only seeing it because you are friends with your son. The only other people who are seeing it in their "news feed" are friends of your son, or friends of other people tagged in it, or friends of the poster. Nobody else is getting it in their "news feed."

If your son's wife is also on facebook, and is his friend, and has visited facebook since it was posted, she has already seen it.

You forgot #3 some hack other's accounts and add XXX photos and tag their entire friend list. Someone may have hacked any one of your SIL's friend's. I was sent an XXX photo by one of my FB friends and it was not of her and she did not post it. Someone hacked her account.