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PROLOGUE
Google Doesn’t Want Your Kids in the Picture
Two weeks ago, I told you your first tour happens on Google. This month Google started taking the kids out of it.
On Friday, October 2, four of our client schools got the same email: “Your post has been removed from Google.” Different schools, different states, same notice. The only thing the posts had in common was photos of students.
A reader hit the same wall replying to that issue. Her photos kept getting rejected until she uploaded one with no faces in it. That one went through.
Here’s what we know so far, which isn’t much. Google hasn’t announced anything. Its published rules have always mentioned faces posted without consent, and it switched on AI moderation for profile content this spring. Our best guess is the machine now reads a child’s face as a face posted without consent, no matter who uploaded it. Enforcement is inconsistent. Some photos with kids get through. Campus shots, drone shots, and the same post with the photo removed all publish fine.
That’s a guess. We’re still digging.
This week:
Check your profile. Open Google Business Profile, look at Posts and Photos, and see if anything has been removed since October 1.
Keep posting. A quiet profile is a bigger problem than a rejected photo. Go text-only if you have to.
Build a no-face library. Classrooms before the bell, faculty, the sign out front, the drone shot. You’ll want these anyway.
The bigger question was always coming. Every school’s marketing runs on kids’ faces, and the consent conversation about those faces was going to catch up with us eventually. Google just got there first.
One ask: If Google has pulled one of yours, or you know something we don’t, reply and tell me. I’ll share what we learn in a future issue.
Thanks,
Brendan
The 5 Ideas From Atomic Habits That Actually Stick
Most people who read Atomic Habits remember one line: small habits compound. Here's the rest worth keeping:
Focus on systems, not goals
Build habits around who you want to become
Make the good habit the easy one
Design your space so the right choice is the default
Shortform breaks down books like Atomic Habits into the key ideas, the reasoning behind them, and how to put them to work. This one takes about 15 minutes.
Then do the same for the next book on your list.
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Who Do They Think They Are? Writing to Identity in School Communications
Your database knows who your audience is. Your appeal letters usually don't. This session covers the research on identity-based messaging and gives you a practical audit you can run on any appeal or admissions email before it goes out.
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