8 Things You Ought to Avoid Posting on Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with your friends, family, colleagues, and more. It gives you access to all kinds of information today. But that also raises a question about our personal information. If we upload things online, we need to understand where to draw the line to stay on the safer side. Let 5-Minute Crafts suggest some tips to keep such worries at bay.
1. Your full birthdate
You may love being showered with birthday wishes by your friends and family on your Facebook timeline, but your full birthdate gives scammers the opportunity to gain all the essential information they need to steal info and create new accounts bearing your name.
2. Unconfirmed news or suspicions
When you post unconfirmed or unverified news on your social media accounts, like something that went missing for a long time that has been found or sad news about a famous actor, you really have no idea how it could impact someone emotionally. That’s why it’s always a good idea to verify the news from a reliable source.
3. Your current location
When you post a status or a tweet, it may disclose your current location by means of geotagging. It can be an unsafe move, as it reveals to potential thieves that you may not be at home. So even if you harmlessly post your vacation spot online, it can give the green light to bad guys who want to rob your home.
4. Someone else’s good news that they wanted to keep low-key
It can be any good news, like your work friend being pregnant, your sibling getting shortlisted for a new job at a competing company, etc. Revealing such news that is not public yet may seriously affect the person being discussed. It’s vital to respect other people’s privacy.
5. Children’s pictures with their names tagged
This is a sensitive issue. Every parent intends to protect their kids, but we post many pictures of them online with their names tagged. The gist here is that your friends and family are not the only ones looking at these pictures. For instance, if your friend lost their phone and forget to log out of their social media account, anyone can get access to this data.
The point here is that the “friends only” setting cannot be relied upon. You may have to consider the fact that anything you post may go public. So avoid posting anything to stay on the safe side. But even if you still prefer uploading your kids’ pictures, don’t tag the location or even their names. Your near and dear ones know their names. The rule is applicable when you upload your friends’ kids’ pictures too.
6. Things that can affect your career
Uploading statuses like, “I hate this job,” or “I hope one day I find a boss who appreciates me,” can impact your current professional life. There are higher odds that your employer will see these. As we mentioned above, nothing stays private.
7. Work-related details
Uploading sensitive work details on social media, even if innocently, can result in a violation of the non-disclosure agreement, also known as an NDA. Even when you put up a status on how sad you are about missing a deadline or a company project tidbit, it reveals important information to the competing companies that can be leveraged against your organization.
8. Pictures of your home key
It’s exciting to move into a new place and install the best security system there is. But there’s a chance that some tiny missteps can put you in danger, like uploading pictures of your house key. Apart from the geolocation being added to the post, you should also remember that it’s easy to copy keys from a photo. The hi-def cameras can easily show every notch on the key. Also, don’t hand your keys to anyone and keep them out of sight to others at all costs.