SO MUCH of our modern lives are put on show through social media.

I know through my own work, I have become somewhat of an open book.

I've had to accept that doing what I do has a decent amount of public judgement attached to it, and there are certain ways to handle it.

In my family's case, we have made a conscious decision to be open and accept the criticism that it may bring.

What I sometimes forget is that not everyone's lives are as open as mine. So what are the rules when it comes to social media etiquette?

I recently posted something on social media , and the subject of that post was not appreciated.

I was asked to remove it, which under the social norms of ethical behaviour, I decided that was the right thing to do, so I did.

From a legal sense, it was not incriminating, it was taken from something that was in an open space that is used by the public, and therefore I was well within my rights to post it, without permission from anyone.

But there is always more to consider in situations such as this. Was I within my 'moral right' to release this post without the permission of the subjects within it?

We've all see the disclaimer signs at events where there is filming involved, that inform us that by entering we are also permitting the use of our images. Has this ever stop you from entering an event?

Does this also need to be extended further to when we enter a supermarket to go shopping, or when getting petrol? Not that I find those activities particularly interesting, even if you're naked or Brad Pitt, or both.

But we are allowing ourselves to be in a public place and therefore a photo can be captured of us and used on social media, without our permission.

We permit plenty of places to monitor us through CCTV, and our images will be used if we break the law.

Most police organisations use social media to identify offenders, or locate missing persons.

Does this just mean we just have to behave in a manner that agrees with the perception of own image whenever we're in public?

Do these disclaimers now need to be included when we send out children's birthday invitations, for instance?

I don't post photos of my children too often, but there's nothing stopping someone else from posting them if they're at a party.

Grandparents love posting pictures of their grandkids, usually without the permission of the legal guardian. So without a court order in place that prevents an image from being used, when is it no longer acceptable?

I now know that I need to be more careful with what I post, but how do I know what I deem

TJ Hamilton is a former Sydney cop turned Hervey Bay author. She tweets @TJ_Hamilton