Is It OK To Regram? Should You? Do You?

Is it OK to Regram?

I recently read a post on using apps to “Regram” Instagram posts by others. Having one account under Tactical Social Media and another under me (with minimal overlap) there is an advantage to sharing my own content.

From their own Terms of Service (the short version): “Post only your own photos and videos… Given this statement and no native share option, it would seem regramming is not permitted.

What has set Instagram apart from the other big social media sites is original content.

There is a bit of conflicting info here if you look at the long version: “….don’t post anything you’ve copied or collected from the Internet that you don’t have the right to post.” While they’re telling us to only post our own content, they seem to have left the door open to sharing when you have permission.

I have been sitting on the fence on this one.

Should you Regram?

I’ve read a few articles discussing what counts as permission. One even stated you may have the rights to share content which someone else posted featuring you or your brand. Personally, even if your brand is featured in my content, unless I give you explicit permission to use it, you cannot. It’s still my content. This can be a real issue when it comes to user-generated content, not just on Instagram but on other social media sites as well.

Apps like Regram, Repost, Instarepost (I purposely haven’t included links to these apps) and a few others I have found make it possible to share Instagram posts and do include a watermark attributing the image to the original account. This, however, doesn’t count as permission.

Do you Regram?

If you do, what are you sharing?

• Is it your own content across your profiles?
  
• Is it someone else’s content.
  
• Do you have permission to regram a particular piece of content if you’re sharing from others?
  
• What about when someone tags you or your brand in a post? Should you regram it? Do the right to do so?

A final thought.

The short of it – Instagram has made it ambiguous in its TOS but the lack of a native share option leads me to think the practice is not acceptable. The fact that third-party apps exists doesn’t change what is or isn’t allowed.

There is a small window here where the practice may actually be used legitimately. It’s possible Instagram’s TOS was designed to foster personal, original content and allow sharing of it (as opposed to posting content found elsewhere. The lack of a native sharing option may have been to remove their potential liability for content theft rather than prevent the practice in its entirety. In this case, regram apps, which are designed to allow sharing from within the social site would OK.

I’ll leave you with this related post for as additional food for thought – Instagram Etiquette // Is Regramming OK?

For now,

I don’t regram and my professional advice has been not to do it, but is the practice acceptable? Should I reconsider my stance?

I’ll update this post to include some of your thoughts.

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