Social media is something that accounts for the majority of the time people spend on the Internet. It increased from 6% in 2007 to 19% now. As it continues to become more and more a part of the social fabric of society, it’s much more imperative to safeguard yourself from cyber threats.

Here are some of the most critical safety tips that you should use to stay safe in the digital age. These tips come from the Department of Homeland Security.

Top Social Media Safety Tips: 

1. Reduce The Total Amount Of Information You Freely Post Online

First things first, you need to limit the amount of information you post online. You don’t need to tell everyone about your birthday. Nor do you need to publish your schedule online. These things are only going to increase your vulnerability. Instead, you want to try to only share general things about yourself. Don’t go into much detail and tell your friends not to post anything you don’t want online.

2. Understand The Internet Is A Public Resource

Don’t post anything that you don’t want on the Internet forever. The Internet is a public resource and should be treated as such. Anything you post can and will be used against you at some point.

3. Don’t Inherently Trust Strangers Online

Everyone can be anyone they want online. Because it’s so easy to mask your true identity, don’t inherently trust a stranger online. They can lie about who they are and deceive you very easily. 

4. Look At Your Privacy Settings

Always look at the privacy settings for all of your social media accounts. You want to do this to try to safeguard your account and the information shared. Social media platforms can be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. You can restrict access to certain information and things that you post. Take advantage of this and try to put a wall up that keeps outsiders from seeing too much information that you don’t want to out there according to https://thepirateproxybay.com/

5. Read Privacy Policies Before Agreeing

You will find that a lot of social media sites will have long privacy policies. They will tell you exactly what they do with your data within them. Read these policies. In a lot of cases, you can block the sharing of your email address and other things. However, some sites won’t allow you to do so. Therefore, you could limit using that social media site or avoid it altogether. Always read privacy policy updates. They can change at any time. This can keep you informed about how they are using your data at all times.