James Franco shares a bit too much on Instagram

James Franco had second thoughts late on Thursday night after posting a more ’intimate’ than usual photo on Instagram, taking down the image shortly after it went up.

But not, of course, before it had been retweeted, downloaded, commented on and otherwise noticed by his social-media friends, and their friends, and their friends...

The image depicted a serious-looking Franco in a bathroom clad only in boxer briefs. Yup, for 1.9 million Instagram followers and two million Twitter followers to see, if they happened to be looking during the narrow window of opportunity.

Reactions in the 140-character arena seemed to lean mostly to the ‘what the what?’ and ‘eew’ end of the spectrum. There was some dismay about the photo being taken down.

There’s been a build-up to this on the Spring Breakers actor’s Instagram: Recently he’s been posting shirtless photos of himself in bed, with captions such as, “[What] HAPPENED? I was waiting for you,” “Bday SELFIE -- MORNIN’ n MUCH LOVE” and “APPLE SLICES IN MY BED -- I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DIDNT SHOW UP!”

Franco told the Associated Press last month that he was just “playing around” with the medium, “like everybody else,” to see what reactions he would get. A selfie is “a very intimate photo,” said the performer, who’s well known for dabbling in different media, from film to soap operas to nude paintings of fellow actor Seth Rogen. (At least one of the latter can be seen on Instagram as well.)

The Of Mice and Men actor wasn’t slowing down at all Friday on Instagram, posting multiple times on Friday on the social-media site that got him into trouble in early April when he appeared to hit on a 17-year-old girl who was visiting New York with her mum and met him outside the production’s stage door.

That exchange left him “embarrassed” by his “bad judgement,” he said in a TV interview shortly after the story hit.

Franco will be working at night on the Broadway stage until late July.