It's not just kids who have to protect themselves from abuse on Facebook and MySpace. These rules are just as crucial for adults. the last thing you want in your life is a stalker. Liesl Muller, a social media consultant, offers the following advice about safe social media use:
It is very important to keep your passwords safe and not to share them with anyone.
Don’t befriend just anyone. A rule of thumb is to only befriend people you know in real life. Use Facebook as an extension of your existing circle of friends.
What you share electronically stays in cyberspace forever, therefore don’t share or post anything you will not feel comfortable with. Ask yourself: will you be comfortable if your headmaster or a potential employer reads it? And potential employers do look at your Facebook page.
You can change your Facebook privacy settings by clicking on the 'Privacy settings' under the arrow key on the top right-hand corner on Facebook. You can tailor-make your privacy settings for each element (this is called granular privacy settings). As a good rule of thumb, select “Friends only” for most options. This will prevent your wall posts and photographs being accessible to anyone. If you select “Friends only”, that also means that strangers cannot comment on your posts and photographs.
Be considerate of your friends’ privacy as well – don’t post anything about them or their photographs without asking them if they are comfortable with the post.
Don’t post anything such as addresses or cell numbers that make you easy to find.
For parents: talk to your children about social media use and how to stay safe online. If you haven’t seen it yet, ask to see their profile page the following day. Your child will have the opportunity to remove anything incriminating that he or she is not comfortable sharing with you (and learn a valuable lesson about being careful about what they post in the process).
Privacy and your personal data
Be careful of applications and games. They ask for permission to use your personal data and access your data even when you are not using the application. You can remove applications you don’t use.
The same applies to Facebook advertisements. You can again choose not to have your name used for social advertisements. Have you noticed on the advertisements it would sometimes say “Mary Cummings likes this”? This is where they used the permission Mary gave originally to use her name to endorse a product or service. You can change this by clicking on your “Account” button again, going to Facebook ads, and removing the permission to use your data.
Facebook and cyberbullying
You can block other users from seeing your posts and photographs.
You can complain to Facebook if you are the victim of cyberbullying. They will investigate all complaints.
Good online resource
Visit Wired Safety, a good website for safety issues online.
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