Hard-Knock tips for Facebook users?

Oct 19, 2015

5 minute read

In the middle of a wedding last week, a mysterious video was found on the wall of the bride and the wedding turned from merry to misery in just a minute. So we asked the question ” what happened ” and we were shown the video that destroyed the wedding. It was not a lot to talk about but it was a recent, or rather one last time engagement with the ex lover of the bride before she ties the knot. As usually, one question leads to the other and we end up with a bucket load of more questions.

It was a wedding ruined by Facebook, as most people would say “Social Media is ruinning a lot of homes and relationships” but as funny as it sounds, is it possible or are people just ignorant about certain technologies ?

It is a tool that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. Social media is defined as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of the website, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated contents. Furthermore, social media depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between businesses, organizations, communities, and individuals.

Depending on how we look at social media, it has its benefits and disadvantages but these are all based on their uses and understanding of how to use them. So Let’s talk about the most common of the social media platforms “Facebook”. Facebook is created to help people socialize with friends and families and put a face to a name they know, so that people can easily identify and link back with people of interest. Facebook as attracted friends and enemies and has become the platform to share news and start movements these days, with the click of a button anyone can start their own little campaign.

There has been issues of theft of identity, private data leakage, Investigations, personal threats, match making and even other people find love on Facebook. Facebook has become a world on its own, where people live a different way and the reality sometimes is not as close to what we see on Facebook.

Over the years many of us have come to love Facebook and spend unprecedented amounts of time on the world’s most popular social networking site. But even in 2015 it’s worth thinking about our safety on Facebook and taking a few steps to make sure that we aren’t giving away more information than we want to.

Why are you on Facebook
Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your profile. Is it just to share photos, or keep in touch with people, or even to share links and updates of your activities? Sometimes it’s better to cut down what you show on your profile; this includes signing up to applications which also take a lot of your data. You can always add or remove options as you go, so if your needs change, so should your profile.
Think about who you add
It’s not all about the numbers of friends. Remember when you accept a friend request you provide your new friend with access to lots of information about you. This includes, posts, photographs, messages and all the background information that you write about yourself. You can delete friends at any time, so perhaps it’s time to refresh your list and think about who you really want accessing your information.
Learn to send Private Messages than message on comments
We all have those friends and fans who are desperate to get your attention, that they will follow a post comment and put private info in line. These are very dangerous as there are spam geeks and fraudsters everywhere no, so do yourself or those people a favor by deleting all personal infos, Like cell numbers, addresses, birthday dates, work place. These are the pieces of the puzzle people use for social identity theft and different crimes. Another issue is sexual content distribution, which has become a great deal now among youngsters. If you feel sexy and think you are sexy, send private messages than wall posts. Finally, there is no guarantee no one else would see these contents, better still do not send.
Leave personal issues out on Facebook
Personal issues allow people to know your emotional status and leaves you vulnerable, no wonder so many of us get filtered adverts on our wall about singles in our area or even a mail suggesting to help with counselling. So topics are more than Facebook, remember that these little information form part of the final opinion about the kind of person you are. Interestingly these days, work recruiters also go on Facebook walls to get to know people better. Leave family issues, relationships and private opinion on casual one-on-one session, Facebook is not Dr. Phill and most people are just on Facebook to snoop around.
Be careful what you say
Make sure that what you say in status updates and comments is something that you would be comfortable seeing on the front page of a newspaper. Once you post it, anyone that sees it can copy and post it elsewhere, or take action based on it. Do you really want everyone to know that you will be all alone at home tonight or away next week?Sharing little too much is dangerous Investigations
Check your settings
Recently, Facebook changed the default privacy setting to share information publicly. It’s worth spending some time to go through your settings and adjust where necessary; you may be sharing more than you intended. You even have the option to add ‘limited profiles’ for those people that you may not want accessing your personal information. It’s up to you how you want to use these settings so it’s definitely worth having a look to create a profile that’s right for you!
Be smart about your password
Try not to use the same passwords on all of your accounts. It’s also important to be mindful of where you are sending your updates and the types of security questions you set.Check that the computer that you sign in from doesn’t store your email address and password. It seems simple but often it’s easy to accidentally choose it to ‘remember you’. Make sure you have the appropriate privacy settings on your browser.