We all
know of the dangers on social media. Despite the various privacy concerns that
we constantly face on these social networks which we had used extensively to
share our lives with the world, there seems to be no real urgency for most
people to take proactive actions in order to mitigate the risks to their
privacy on social media. Therefore, I am putting these 6 simple tips out to
remind ourselves what we can do to better protect our personal information on
social media sites that we frequently use.
1. The
first tip is to recognise that nothing
is temporary in the online environment. Even if you posted something and
delete it later, you will never know if someone has already copied it.
Therefore, always think carefully before you put any information out there,
especially stuff that is personal to you.
2. Manage your privacy settings. It always
pays off in reviewing who you are connecting with, and what information you are
sharing with them.
3. Don’t fill out ALL your social media
profile. Review your personal profile information and only share things
that you deem necessary. Putting your personal phone numbers, birth dates and
family details on social media is not exactly the best thing to do if you care
about your privacy online.
4. Use
strong passwords, change them frequently, and adopt multiple passwords for different social media platforms. This is
rather intuitive, as you do not want anyone, in a case of a phishing attack, to
lay their hands on your ONE password and the access to all your social media
accounts.
5. Turn off location settings on your social
media platforms. By default, a lot of such platforms have direct connection
to the GPS feature of your mobile devices, revealing your current location
unknowingly to strangers who may access your profiles.
6. When
you do not need them anymore, remember to CLOSE
your old social media accounts and delete as much personal information from
them as possible.
Sources:
Dennis, I think you make some really good points that people often forget when considering social media. I am guilty of some of the things you have mentioned. I think these tips are really good for someone first starting out on social media. It is also a great refresher for someone who may have forgotten the don'ts of social media.
ReplyDeleteThese are great tips! Every time I download a new app and get a notification about allowing accessing my camera, location, etc I always think again if this app is worth my privacy. Even some of the most harmless apps can still gather information from your device.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! I have almost forgotten how much personal information I am revealing unnecessarily on my social media until I was reminded once again how dangerous it could be and in the worst case scenarios where hackers could use my personal information to do bad things.
ReplyDelete