It’s easy to get caught up in the social features of sites like Twitter and Facebook, but what you choose to share is there for all to see if you don’t limit who can view it. Sharing personal data with strangers can be a risky business, and there are some things you should put on your “do not share” list.
Hate speech
In fact, with each unnecessary hateful comment, more and more of your “friends” are silently blocking you from appearing in their news feeds, until at last one day you are only screaming, with no one to answer – as fitting a punishment as we can imagine. Also, your vulnerability is showing. While at it, avoid sharing racial slurs, crude jokes, graphic images, swearing, to name just a few.
Phone Numbers
Sure, you can put contact details such as website info and email for business purposes perhaps but if your phone numbers, you’ve just given identity thieves a key to stalking you. Sharing it with Facebook Pages can also get you in trouble.
Your Home Address
Unless your profile is on complete lock-down, and no one but you can see it, then you should never put your home address on your profile. You would think this was common sense, but people using different “check-in” services while at their house put their lives at risk.
Your long and short trips away from home
This may be a better way to say “Rob me, please” than posting something along the lines of: “Count-down to Dubai! Two days and Cape Town, here we come!” on Twitter. But it’s hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don’t encourage criminals in by telling them, mostly when you’ll be gone.
Naked or revealing images of yourself
Posting embarrassing naked photos of yourself on Facebook is a terrible idea. You doing that poses an invitation to stalkers and you could be a victim of cyber-stalking which can include threats of violence. Stalkers will be tempted to attacking you sexually.
Password clues
Online security questions aren’t the strongest, especially when they require information that you could easily give away on social networks. The small town where you grew up, your childhood pet’s name, where you were married, your first boyfriend’s name — these are all specific details your larger social circle doesn’t need to know anyway.
Personal Finance Information
You never want to share sensitive financial information like your bank account or credit card numbers (!). But I also discourage business owners from sharing info like financial projections, quotas or earnings. While this can be acceptable in certain industries (e.g., online marketers often share monthly income reports), this isn’t the norm in most industries.
Anything You Don’t Want to be Shared.
Social networking is all about sharing, so something you think is in confidence can easily be shared and then shared again, and before you know it, someone you don’t even know has access to something private. “When in doubt, leave it out” is a good motto to follow. And always remember that anything you share has the potential to be leaked in some way.
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