Facebook is now the premier social network to post your life in digital. Some become obsessed on updating their status immediately, their photos, what they ate or where they are, or taking some bizarre quiz which tracks their mannerisms or location.
What we all do is post a variety of intimate details about our lives and family, thinking just our immediate friends and family will see them. At times, things that you wouldn’t normally share with anyone. We think our privacy settings keeps us safe and secure.
The issue becomes that we never know who’s looking at your profile. A friend’s account could of been hacked and installed with some type of rogue application, or someone could be using their account because they forgot to log out, and their settings were moderate.
So what’s needed is to become vigilant for the safety of yourself and your family, as there are certain things that you should never be posting.
Never Post Full Birth Dates
What some enjoy is getting “Happy Birthdays” from their Facebook community, friends, family, and stalkers on their Facebook wall.
It makes them feel loved that people remember them enough to care, this by writing a short note reminding them that they’re a year older, but are they wiser?
The issue becomes, once you list your birthday, you’re providing online marketers and identity thieves from the deep dark web, vital personal preying information that’s needed to abuse your identity.
So the best is not listing the date at all, but if you insist, at the very least leave out the year of birth. Your real friends will know this anyways.
Where You’re Currently At
There are many who love to “location” tag on Facebook, which allows them to let their friends know exactly where they are at the moment.
The problem with this is that you’ve just announced to the entire virtual world that you’re on vacation, or at that diner, and not at home.
Some will post images or include how long that their trip is. There are identity thieves who dedicate themselves to knowing exactly how much time they have to intrude you.
So never provide location tagging information at all. Always upload your vacation photos once you get home, or email them to friends if you really need to show off your tan lines.
Your Current Relationship Status
Whether you’re young or older, single or in a relationship, why would you make it public for the entire world to know, making it common knowledge. First of all, if someone wants to know, they’ll ask.
What stalkers especially want to know is when you’ve just became single. So once you change it, what it gives them is reason to continue tracking you, now that you’re back on the “meet” market.
It also lets them think that you’re available to them, and that you’re wanting to be contacted, this since the significant other is now vacant. So it’s best to leave this area blank or hidden.
Disclosing Where You Are… Part 2
It becomes important that parents tell their kids never to post that they’re home alone, or babysitting at a neighbors in their status.
You would never go to the train station or coffee shop to announce that you’re going to be home alone all weekend, so why would you do so on social media. There are sophisticated ways to track you down.
Most think that it’s just their friends and family which has access to their timeline, but the fault of Facebook is that no one knows who’s reading it.
A good rule of thumb is to never post anything on your status or profile, that you wouldn’t want a complete stranger to know.
You may think that you have the most secure privacy settings possible, but it’s often the account of someone you know that gets compromised, then your settings mean nothing.
Images Of Your Tagged Kids
Parents just adore their kids and wants to post how brilliant or cute they are. Any parent would also take a bullet to keep them safe.
So why are there thousands of kids which are tagged by name, in photos and videos, and then proudly posted on Facebook, this without a second thought.
Some will even replace their own profile pictures with images of their children, or post daily picture updates of they playing at the local park.
Some will post their child’s full name and date of birth, while other proud parents will chronicle a history right from the hospital after delivery, to their journey home.
They post these pictures of their kids and “tag” them to update their friends, family, and other relatives. This is also prime information for predators.
There are instances where stalkers will post the name of a child or relative, this to build trust, convincing you that they’re a friend, and the detailed information verifies it.
Performing Preventative Maintenance
So if you must post pictures of your kids, then at the very least remove personal identifying information, like their names and birth dates. Untag them, as your friends know their names anyway.
Since there’s usually years of images, it may be impossible to completely remove all of the tagged images of your kids on social media.
It becomes a daunting almost impossible task because of the amount of pictures that are taken as proud parents, but the time to start is now, and remove a little every day until finished.
There’s also the issue of tagging pictures of the children of your friends and relatives. Most don’t want you tag their kids. So the best solution is to email them a link to the pictures, this way you’re not announcing “stalk” me.