Now that you’ve digitized your old photos and videos, you’ll probably want to share them with friends and relatives via social media. After all, don’t you want your whole family and all of your friends to see Dad’s funky 70s suit and how adorable your grandmother was when bicycling through your family’s vineyard at your 10th birthday party?
Well, uploading these special moments to social platforms is easy. And by sharing old photos and videos with Facebook friends and Instagram followers, you can help keep these memories alive and bring people together. Just follow these steps:
Share Your Photos and Videos on Facebook
Unlike Instagram, you can upload content to Facebook directly from your computer. (However, if you’d like to have these photos and videos kept on your phone and upload from there, you’ll need to first email or text the files to your cell and save them into your Photo Library.) Here are instructions on how to upload the files from your computer:
- Once logged into your Facebook, go to your profile, and select “Photos.”
- You can now create a new album or add content to an already existing album. Make sure to adjust your settings according to who you want able to access your images and videos. (For example, you may want this to be a private album, make public to anyone, or available only to your Facebook friends.)
- Inside of your present album, you will click the “Add Photos” button. This will open a browser, where you can locate your desired files.
- If you’ve imported the digitized photos and videos from your USB and saved them into a folder on your computer, you’ll open that folder. If not, you’ll need to have your USB plugged into your computer and select the USB’s name under “Devices” on the left side of your browser.
- Inside of your folder or the USB device, you’ll see a list of all files located there. Select the photos and videos you’d like to upload. (You can choose multiple files by holding the “Command” button while individually clicking your desired files. Or, you click your first file, hold the “Shift” key, and click your last file. This will highlight and select all files between the first and last.) Once you’ve finalized and confirmed, an automatic upload will begin.
- When the upload is complete, be sure to tag those pictured accordingly. If your friends and family have Facebook accounts, simply hover over their face in the photo, click, and start typing their name. Once their account appears, click to finalize the tag.
- After tagging your photos and videos, a button to “Post” will appear in the bottom right corner. Before clicking, review all photos and videos to confirm that everything uploaded, and that everyone is tagged correctly. If so, go ahead and press “Post.” Now everything is available on your profile! The photos you tagged will also appear on the profiles of those depicted!
Share Your Photos and Videos on Instagram
To upload content to Instagram, you must do so by phone. Send the video to your phone via text or email, and then save it into your phone’s photo library. From here, you can upload it into your Instagram app. (If you’d like to upload content to Facebook by phone, you’ll do so by following the above steps and accessing your Photo Library folder rather than one on your computer.) Here’s how to share your digitized photos and videos on Instagram:
- As mentioned above, you’ll first need to send your digitized content to your phone. To save an image or video, click it in your text or email. Then select the icon in the top right of your screen. This will give you several action options. Scroll until you see “Save Image” and select. This should automatically store the image or video in your Photo Library.
- Double check that the content appears in the Photo Library folder on your phone—where all images and videos are stored.
- Now that you have the photos and videos saved to your phone, you’ll go to your Instagram app. Here, you’ll upload as normal. If you’ve never uploaded an image or video to Instagram before, it’s easy: Click the middle icon, with a plus symbol. This will open your Photo Library, like a browser. Scroll through and select the image or movie you’d like to upload. Once you’ve clicked one, it will automatically appear as a draft.
- In draft mode, you can type a caption for your content, tag other users, and add a location. In the main box, you’ll type a caption. Under “Tag People” you’ll start typing names of other Instagram users who are shown in the photo or film. And if you’d like to also add a location, do so under “Add Location.”
- Once all information is ready to go, select “Share” in the top right button. This will upload the photo or video to your Instagram profile and show up on the live feed of your followers.
Social media has its highs and lows, but one of its unarguable pros is that it helps preserve precious memories and maintain relationships. Friends you haven’t seen in years and family you haven’t spoken to in months can stay up to speed with your life via the photos and videos you upload. In a weird way, these platforms help you stay connected to loved ones, despite time and distance. By sharing some of your digitized content, you’ll stir conversations and laughter and allow viewers a glimpse into your life’s most meaningful moments!
