Keep Your Social Media Accounts Private :
- Social media can be handled well, it’s the greatest way to promote a product and make people think of you in a positive way. It can be a great way to get in touch with old friends, or just keep an eye on what your family tree is up to. If social media platforms are not managed well, they can ruin your life. There is an increasing concern in digital, personal and health wellbeing issues due to the over-usage of social media and these platforms have created chaos for users. Social media by definition its has a very invasive approach towards privacy and there’s no way to completely block people. While nothing on the internet can be permanently erased, it’s wise to keep your social media accounts “Private” unless you’re a celebrity or business owner or Political Party Member, or Social Activist.
- In simple words, when likes are public, people care too much about them and people view it as a measure of success. There should be sincerity with the governments, people, and social media platform providers to maintain a balance between internet ethics and digital wellbeing amongst all, once such example could be Instagram attempting to hide likes in 6 plus countries Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand, which is beginning of the new chapter in Social Media.
Too much information sharing on Social Media leads to :
- All users are giving their personal information on social platforms and they keep track of all interactions used on their sites and save them for later use i.e. Every behavioural aspect of the individual is being monitored documented & Harvested for probable commercial use.
- Companies steal your private words, actions, conversations, photos and then making them public and making public without content, making them public without context and making them public without compassion
- Too much information sharing on Social Media leads to few issues i.e. cyberstalking, live location disclosure, social profiling, phishing, identity theft, blackmailing, 3rd party personal information disclosure, and government use of social media platforms in investigations even without a search warrant!
Few Tips to keep your personal information private while still enjoying the benefits of making social media connections :
- Never use “about me” feature.
- Know the people, you friend.
- Create yourself an “off-limits” list.
- Always log out when you’re done.
- Create strong, private passwords.
- Use two-factor authentication (2FA) to log in.
- Block all people who hate you out.
Privacy settings on Top 06 Social Media Applications :
- Instagram – Has its privacy settings under “Account.” If you want to keep your Instagram fully private, click “Private Account.” You may also look into one good feature that is making your account a “Private Account”.
- Twitter – Has its privacy settings under “Settings and Privacy.” Once there, click on the “Privacy and Safety” tab. It is recommended that you use the feature “Protect” and “Unprotect” the Tweets.
- Snapchat – You can be private by going to “Settings,” then “Manage Who Can Contact Me,” then choosing the setting that allows your friends. To Make yourself entirely private, you may navigate to “Manage Who Can View My Story” and set it to friends only.
- Facebook – Go to the “Privacy” tab, and toggle all settings that keep people from seeing your information, contacting you, seeing your shares, and reposts. Also, it’s important to periodically see the “Activity Log” and “Limit Past Posts”. It’s all-important nowadays to set the “Profile” setting and “Photo” settings properly
- YouTube – You can control “Privacy” settings on YouTube (Playlists and subscriptions) by navigating to https://www.youtube.com/account_privacy. Its highly recommended to enable the options “Clear All Watch History” and “Pause Watch History”
- LinkedIn – Has its “Privacy” settings under, Me > Settings and Privacy. Through this, it gives you the ability to control (a) How others see your profile and network information (b) How others see your LinkedIn activity (c) How LinkedIn uses your data (d) Job seeking preferences, and (e) Blocking and hiding
Conclusion :
- Social media provide important new channels for human communication, which can enhance relationships and intimacy as well as weaken them at the same time. We need to continue researching and discussing the nuances and functions of communication, privacy, and intimacy in order to create better norms, practices, and protections that enhance the benefits of social media and minimise their risks. Changes in laws, technology, and individual and social practices will likely be necessary in order to achieve these goals.
- At the moment, going private will be the only best way for a longer run on social platforms. Apart from using proper tools / VPN to maintaining privacy while browsing, you must control the personal information you share online, making sure you are not giving up too much of your privacy. Just go to your privacy settings of the respective application and make your social media profiles as private as possible.
