5 tips to help you stay safe on social media
Take a look at your photo before you throw it up on the ’Gram – are you giving away too much about yourself? Here's how to safeguard your privacy
As fun as they are, social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram can open you up to all manner of online dangers. While we can use the internet’s power and openness to our benefit, these qualities also mean it can be used against us.
Here are five top tips for safe social networking.
Check your privacy settings
We often overlook this very important step when we set up social media accounts. The default for many platforms is to make your account as open to the public as possible. This is not what you want, unless you want the entire world to have your photos and personal information at their fingertips. The less private your account, the easier it is for people to stalk you.
To avoid this and more serious dangers, make your account private so that only your close friends and family have access to your posts.
If you go into the privacy settings in Facebook, you can do a quick review of your privacy settings that should only take less than a minute to do. You might want to also consider setting your Instagram account to private so you can control who is able to see your pictures, especially if you post a lot of pictures of yourself or of your private life.
Know your friends
Setting your accounts to private won’t help if you accept everyone who wants to be your friend or follower. Yes, it can become something of a competition to see who has the most views on a TikTok video, or it can become a goal to reach a certain number of followers on Instagram. But you need to weigh up the benefits compared to the risks. Think about all the information you’ve shared on your account and consider whether it’s wise to share all that with a complete stranger.
