August 26, 2009 by Daniel James

I've had a lot of people ask me the same question: What's so special about WeOurFamily?

Answer: A lot.

WeOurFamily was born out of a desire to provide a "safe haven" for social networking. As an experienced software developer, I consider myself rather savvy when considering the amount of information I make available about myself online. Of course as many people do, I don't go entering my Social Security number in random websites or share my banking login with strangers. However, I also am very hesitant to post pictures of my friends and family without fully considering the consequences. Who will be able to see the pictures? Do I know those people, and would I be comfortable with them seeing pictures of my wife and I at the county fair?

It sounds paranoid. "Who cares if some random stranger sees your picture of you eating a deep fried cookie," a typical response might retort, "it's not like those strangers know who you are." But that is something that is quickly becoming a false assumption. I do have a Facebook profile, and on this profile, I have not posted a single photo of my own. Yet to date, I have eight photos associated with my profile. Others have uploaded random pictures of me, "tagged" me in them, and Facebook has conveniently associated those pictures to my profile. It sounds like a marvel of modern social networking, but it comes at a loss of real-world privacy.

Consider also the ownership and licensing of your content. When you upload a photo to one of the large advertiser-supported social networks, you are almost invariably granting a worldwide, transferable, royalty-free license to that site? The site can then take your photo, or your blog, or anything else you post and use it for their own advertising or sell others a license to it?

WeOurFamily was designed from the beginning to deal with these issues. The term "privacy" to us means that you have the control to decide who gets to see your content, without quietly giving up any of your rights. You should be able to decide who sees your picture of you enjoying fair food, and you have that ability with WeOurFamily.