The Pitfalls of Social Media

“Going on a Panama cruise next week – finally taking a vacation!” Have you, your spouse, or your child ever posted anything like this on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare on your phone, your website or another social media website? Did you stop to think about how vulnerable this information makes you? You may think that only your close friends and family will access this information, but you can’t be sure that this is true. What if a stranger, an acquaintance, your teenager’s classmate or a distant friend-of-a-friend reads it and decides your house is an easy target for a robbery?

Think about what else you may post on these websites: pictures of you dancing the funky chicken at your cousin’s wedding, or pictures of your latest (Not-Safe-For-Work) Halloween costume. Has your son or daughter ever posted anything like this or maybe much worse? It may seem funny at the time, but keep in mind – your boss several years from now may be able to easily see this information with a simple search of your name. In fact, a recent Microsoft commissioned survey found that as many as 70 percent of hiring managers have rejected candidates based on information found online.

In all of these examples, easy access to information posted on the Internet can have serious consequences. Have you run an online search of your name recently? You may be surprised with the amount of information out there. One can easily find a person’s full name, phone number, birth date, address and pictures with a few clicks of the mouse. For instance, www.intelius.com is one site that searches utility, change of address, property and business records and other publicly available information to find people. You might have to pay a little more money to access more details of a person, but it is still a relatively easy process for someone to obtain information on you.

Although information on the Internet may be hard for you to control or remove, there are some simple steps you can take to help protect your privacy:

1. Check all of your privacy settings. Social media websites, often have many different privacy settings. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to determine what settings you should use, but investing time in understanding this will pay off in the long run – you don’t want just anyone to be able to access your information.
2. Think before you post! It may seem obvious, but remember that the information you post today (“I hate my broker!” “I am going to brand X.”) remains on the Internet potentially for many years to come. When there comes a time when you want to delete something, it may already be too late. Do not post information or photos that you wouldn’t want your employer, future employer, co-worker, neighbor or great aunt to see!
3. Watch what other people post. You can control the information you make available, but it can be harder to control what other people might post. Try to minimize the danger of this by “untagging” yourself in photos, or even asking friends to take these photos down entirely. Similarly, think twice before you add distant acquaintances as friends on social networking sites.
4. Google yourself and see what information is available. Sites that collect public information (addresses, etc.) usually have a privacy policy which allows you to opt out of sharing your information through their website and it does take time for your request to be processed.