Just because it says "XYZ Photography"......

[NicoleScraps]

does not mean that you should click the "like" button. Seriously, I am doing some weeding out, unliking and hiding on facebook. I have "liked" tons of photography related pages. Some of them are absolutely wonderful. Probably those that I consider to be good are the members here. Others are downright ridiculous.
Now let me ask you, if you call yourself a "professional" photographer and you have a facebook page to promote yourself and you actually have a significant amount of people following you, would you post photos of your personal family gatherings? Like snap shots of your kids eating and playing on Thanksgiving day? To top it off, snapshots taken with a cell phone?
I do personally consider this to be unprofessional. Not the posting photos of your kids part. If they are "portfolio" quality photos then cool. Plus no one would ever know they are your kids unless they know you personally or you say so. But if you are a so called professional, do you children and family not deserve decent photos to remember their lives? Do you kids not deserve the same treatment as your "clients?" Get out the real camera and take nice, clear and in focus snapshots that somebody can actually do something with.
Not knocking the cell phone, I have seen some (not many) good/acceptable photos taken with a cell. I use mine once in a great while when that is all that I have available. But most times they are blurry, grainy, and dark. This was the case with these photos.
Ugh....big pet peeve of mine here. It really bugs me. If you have a good camera, then use the good camera. Your kids and family deserve it just as much as your clients do.

And no, I don't have the link. I already deleted/unliked it. I am not even sure what the page was called. So don't ask. Just venting a little bit here. Wondering if anybody else agrees with me.
You know, I really admire Susan H's work and all of the goreous photos that she does of her daughter. So I think to myself, "WWSD (what would Susan do?)" Would she take photos of her daughter with a cell phone? Maybe. Depends on the situation. Would she post said photo on her website or facebook page? Probably not.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

Now let me ask you, if you call yourself a "professional" photographer and you have a facebook page to promote yourself and you actually have a significant amount of people following you,
A: would you post photos of your personal family gatherings?
B: Like snap shots of your kids eating and playing on Thanksgiving day?
C: To top it off, snapshots taken with a cell phone?

A: No, never
B: No, never
C: No, never

I've learned to just accept the fact these folks are out there (I may be included in that bunch actually), and simply focus on how I am going to make sure others don't see me as one of them. I'm also quite thankful that so many crappy photogs are out there, because I'm arrogant enough to think that their crappy work actually makes mine look better. They're doing me a service because when someone has spent time looking at their images and stumbles upon mine, I'm hoping (let's be honest, I'm assuming) they'll think, wow, this guy is so much better. But hey, that's just me, and I'm arrogant.

It's like continually bashing your head against the wall over certain topics with certain people, you'll never get through to them, so simply go around them.

So, instead of exasperation, i just allow these folks to be a confidence booster. I just hope enough people see them for what they are.

P.S. i don't call myself a Professional. I do do paid work, so I thought that counted towards answering your question.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

So, instead of exasperation, i just allow these folks to be a confidence booster. I just hope enough people see them for what they are.

Hey, that's a really great way to look at it! TFS!!

[RLucas]

I don't even use my fan page that much, but nowhere does it say that I am a professional. As a matter of fact, I was sort of setting it up like a blog to track my progress, but it hasn't quite worked out that way. I was sure to stipulate that this is my journey through my amateur endeavor in to photographydom. Even so, you still will probably never see any family snaps on it. I don't take many because I tend to piss everyone off and over analyze even those! lol!

There is one in particular that does come to mind of what you are talking about.

[snowfalldesigns]

I have a fan page as well but I think it is boring and I don't update it much. Why? Because I have A LOT more friends on my personal site than I do on my fan site. So I make sure I update my personal site and my website because I feel like I can reach a lot more people that way. I do occasionally update my fan site with sessions that I've done but I rarely update my status. I've thought about trying to do this a little more often though. So, there are plenty of pictures of my daughter and family on my personal site mixed in with my paid work but I typically don't post anything crappy because I'm just that picky...

[Biomech]

I have a fanpage, for me it's just another advertising avenue. I have my website setup in such a manner so that when I post a news piece, the facebook page automatically gets updated which inturn updates twitter. You might think this is a bit of duplication of data, but in all honesty the people visiting my site, my fan page and my twitter are all different.

I agree about the fanpages and family snaps though - that's what MY facebook is for. I do, however, included holiday photos that I consider good and I use my girlfriend for portrait practice - again I include these if they are suitable, purely because (like you said) no one else knows that she's my girlfriend. Infact, people knowing what she "really" looks like and how she turns out on the camera (DoP,WB tricks etc) has made people appreciate my ability more and lead to numerous enquiries

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by RLucas

There is one in particular that does come to mind of what you are talking about.

Yeah, comes to my mind too. Except I am forbidden from looking at it anymore. It was the only way my husband would let me move back into the house from the woodshed. Apparently, I was getting all worked up and bugging the crap out of him about it, Can you imagine such a thing from moi?

[ZannieGirl49]

I try to keep my business page updated somewhat frequently but definitely keep the personal "snapshots" out of it. There's a reason that a business page is separate from a personal page and your post outlines a few good points. It boils down to branding, what is the image that you want to portray to your customers? If it's crappy cell phone images, I'm sure that's fine with the professional portrait photographers who will take the work that crappy cell phone photographer won't be getting.

[Jim Poor]

Oh, I don't know. There are definitely many ways to look at this.

I have personal and business pages. I don't put "snap-shots" on the business page, but I do put them on my personal page.

I'll put crappy cell phone photos up as well as videos of the new puppy, or the first time my dad walked after his stroke.

Here's the kicker: I interact FAR MORE with my clients on my personal page than I do on my business page. All these little glimpses into my life make me more human to my clients and helps me relate to them as we all have similar stories to tell and similar interests.

I can see it going too far, and I do regulate what I put up, but my friends and clients know full well what I can do with a "real" camera and they know the difference when I put up a cell phone photo of my puppy covered in mud after a rain storm, meerkats at the zoo, or my crazy Mickey Mouse pants while a wallaby sniffs my foot like in the album linked below.

Jim Poor | Facebook

[Biomech]

There is one in particular that does come to mind of what you are talking about.

I'm intrigued.....