These days, you can’t go on any social media platform without reading about someone “accidentally” posting private, explicit photos of themselves, some home getting burgled whilst everyone was out of the house or a potential employer getting turned off because of a person’s Google results. All of this can easily be avoided with just a few simple steps.
Check social media security settings.
Most of the popular social media apps enable their users to limit the number of people who can view their posts. Twitter and Instagram lets their users set their profiles to private which locks down their entire profile to only their followers who would have to send a request before they’re given access. Facebook allows their users to set up filters so status and photo posts are seen only by those added to the group filter.
Strengthen that password
Having a weak, easily-guessed password is like putting up a Do Not Enter sign on your door without actually closing it. It’s an open invitation to strangers to come right in. IT support experts discourage the use of birthdays, anniversaries, children’s or spouses’ names or anything that is easily guessed; instead use a random word with random numbers and symbols e.g. “P0t@T0143” is infinitely better than “davidsphone1234”
Stop telling people where you are
A lot of people are guilty of this, me included. Going out for coffee and itching to tell people about it? Don’t. Or at least not right away. Turn off your location services on your mobile phone. I mean really, if you want certain people to know where you were, do it after you’ve left that particular location. Another thing you need to stop doing is announcing that your family is going on holiday. Post your holiday photos when you get home.
Tag, you’re it.
IT support experts agree that Google-ing applicants have become an integral part of the hiring process. Human Resources managers often get turned off by photos that do not show you in the best of light. This is easily fixed by going on Facebook, go to your settings, click on Timeline and Tagging and do the following steps:
- Enable “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline.”
- Set “Who can see posts you’ve been tagged on in your timeline?” to ONLY ME
