Social networking sites are booming. A gigantic percentage of the world’s population is connecting through these online communities each and every day. Most people you know probably are a member of one or more social media networks, and many of those folks most likely connect several times a week, and for many, several times each day.
Privacy, security and safety have become major concerns with social media sites. These networks compete with each other over who has more members, which has more features and also which is the most safe and secure.
It isn’t only the sites that are worried about security. Average users are worried about their safety when using social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google +. There are a lot of things you can do to stay safe when using these sites, and the following six top safety tips for social media networks are just a handful of ways you can keep yourself safer.
1.) Don’t give out too much information. With too many details about you, identity thieves can have a field day. Via social networks they can easily learn your full name and where you live, but if you have lax privacy settings or overshare, they can also learn your address, phone number, personal email address, place of employment, your previous names, your family members, the type of car you drive, your home town and more. With this information they could fill out a credit card application pretty accurately for you, only being without you social security number and an exact figure for your annual income. Additionally, all this information probably gives a savvy scammer more than enough information to figure out your passwords for various sites.
2.) Don’t broadcast that you won’t be home. Location based networks like Foursquare broadcast that you are out and about, but it doesn’t necessarily meant that no one is home. Bragging via Twitter or Facebook that you are going to be on holiday for the next month often indicates that your home is unguarded. With all the information you intentionally or unintentionally give, your unwatched home is easy to find by a criminal scouting for homes to hit or by your old high school friend who is down on their luck.
3.) Don’t add strangers on sites meant for friends. A site like Facebook can reveal a lot to your friends including your contact information. Adding some random stranger as a friend on a site like that could lead to some sensitive information being leaked. If you like to post personal information don’t add strangers to some sites and protect your posts on others.
4.) Meet people in well-lit public areas. An astounding amount of new relationships now start online, and a lot of those are not from dating sites. Social networks can often lead to new relationships sprouting. If you think you have a love connection or even a new best friend, don’t meet at someone’s home or a remote location for the first meeting. Meet at a restaurant or coffee shop where there are plenty of people who will see both of you, but isn’t too busy so that no one will notice if you end up in trouble.
5.) Manage your privacy settings. Almost all of the social sites have some sort of privacy settings so that you can limit who sees what, and you can even set many of these sites so that you have full control of any information about you. Be sure to review all of these settings, and revisit them anytime these sites upgrade, as these settings may also change too.
6.) Keep your kids away from social networks. There are social sites for kids, but still be sure to monitor them as they use these communities. Sites like Google +, Facebook and Twitter have minimum ages for membership in order to keep kids safe, so make your younger kids wait to join. These sites can put them front and center in front of creeps, dangerous individuals and adult situations, and you probably can’t monitor them and who they interact with constantly. Also, don’t post too much information about your children and avoid using them as your profile pictures, as there is a chance this could also attract unwanted attention.
This guest post is contributed by Kevin Moor, who writes for topspeedscan.com, which is seeking ways how to speed up my pc.