10 Tips for safer Social Networking
We all live in the world of social networks with around 1.61 billion of users worldwide. In such a large cluster of people involved, you have to be smarter than the others to stay safe and secure. So, here are the top 10 ways to stay safe and secure in this cyber world :
- Use a strong, unique password (DO NOT use the same password on multiple sites)
- Provide as little personal information as possible – avoid revealing birth date, address, etc.
- Understand and customize the privacy settings in all of your social networking accounts
- Don’t allow 3rd party applications to access your information (if possible)
- Be careful about what you post
- Photos of self or others
- Opinions on controversial topics
- Don’t rip classmates, professors, coworkers, employers, etc.
- Don’t post anything related to your employer (unless you’re authorized)
- Avoid suspicious friend/follow requests, ads, 3rd party applications, chat messages etc.
- Minimize exploration – don’t carelessly click on lots of ads, videos, games, etc. Also, supervise your kids and relatives about the safer usage of social networking sites.
- Use built-in and add-on features in web browsers to warn you of malicious sites.
- Anti-phishing filters in IE and Firefox
- Web of Trust & Dr. Web Link Checker
- NoScript And WOT Add-ons
- Adblock Plus
- Preview features of bit.ly, Tiny-URL etc.
- Think before you click any link because you are solely responsible for any harm caused by those links.