10 Things You Shouldn't Do On Facebook

10 Things You Shouldn’t Do on Facebook

It can be easy to forget how your security and privacy gets compromised on social media. Of course, if you’re doing “bad” things and posting about them, don’t expect to have your privacy maintained. Even if you’re just under suspicion of having done something illegal, Facebook and other social media sites give access to profiles to crime fighting and government agents in certain circumstances — which you cannot prevent. However, to keep other people from knowing your social business, here are tips for what not to do on Facebook

1. Don’t use Klout.com and similar services if you want to maintain a private profile. It’s not clear in the Klout.com UI who can or cannot see your “Klout moments”, but given that your private FB posts do appear in Klout (because you had to have given permission in the first place), it’s probably not a good idea.
2. Don’t use FB apps or mobile apps that “want to post for you” if you’re concerned.
3. Don’t publicly post that you are away for an extended period of time or imply such — especially if your address is easy to find online or in the white pages.  Some U.S. insurance companies are changing policy rules to exclude claims if they can prove you revealed too much on social media and were burgled as a result.
4. Don’t give away too much info about your current whereabouts. Turn off “location,” don’t mention you’re away and for how long. This includes multi-day conferences, even if you’re near by.
5. Don’t publish your full home address contact details anywhere online, including your Facebook profile. If you have a home business, use a P.O. Box or use a service that gives you the equivalent of a physical suite number and signs for packages for you.
6. Don’t post photos of your children, or at the least do not identify and tag them — especially under-age children.
7. Don’t post or tag photos of your friends doing “questionable” things. Ask them to check with you as well before posting. Similarly, don’t post pictures of your bad habits. Make sure your friends are not doing so either. You would think all this would be commonsense, but friends of friends might be posting photos of you.
8. Don’t post “insider information”, especially for publicly-traded companies. You might have family, friends or acquaintances that become sources of such information for you. Carefully consider what you’re revealing before posting about any company or the legal repercussions might be worse than losing a job.
9. Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know – especially if they have very few friends in their profile. At least with LinkedIn, you know how they’re connected to you.Don’t use short, simple passwords. Use longer passwords, some uppercase letters mixed with lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation. Use multiple unrelated words if it makes it easier for you to remember.
10.  It’s particularly important to protect your account if re-use this password for other online services — especially common ones such as email addresses, banking, etc.