Privacy on Social Media
Social media helps us to connect with friends, share the things we like, and even learn things. But it is important to look after your privacy when using social media too. Online privacy helps us to protect our personal information and prevent anyone from using it without our permission. Netsafe have helped us put together a few quick and easy tips on how to protect your privacy across all your different social media accounts.
Instagram is great for seeing what your friends are up to, sharing photos, and finding funny and cute pics. These are a few things you can keep in minding when you use Instagram to make sure you stay safe while scrolling.
What name do you want seen? You don’t have to use your real name on your profile or in your username, so think about what name you want people seeing.
Private accounts. Instagram gives you the option to make your profile private, which means you choose the people who can follow you and see your posts, or public, which means anyone can follow you or see your posts. Think about who you want seeing what you post before you decide whether to have a private or public profile.
Activity status. People you follow or have direct messages with can see whether you are active or not, but you can change this in your settings.
Hashtags. If you have a public profile and use a hashtag, that post will show up under that hashtag’s page, so be careful about where you want your posts appearing.
Check out Netsafe’s other tips about privacy on Instagram here.
Tiktok
TikTok is hugely popular right now, it’s fun, easy, and interesting! While your scrolling through the latest dances, cat videos, and skits make sure to keep these tips in mind to keep yourself safe on TikTok.
Private vs. Public. Just like on Instagram, you can choose to either have a private or public account. Even if you have a public account, you can choose who sees your videos and make them visible to anyone, to just your friends, or just yourself.
Duets. If you post a video, you can control who duets that video through the Privacy and Safety settings.
Username. You don’t have to use your real name in your username or in your bio, so think about whether you want people knowing your name, or whether you want to choose something fun and different.
Netsafe talk a bit more about TikTok here.
Snapchat
All these changes can be made in your Snapchat settings to help you protect your privacy.
Choosing a name. On snapchat you can choose whether to use your real name or not, so if you don’t want people knowing your real name you can use a nickname or make something else up.
Snap Map. You and your friends can choose whether or not to be shown on the Snap Maps. If you don’t want people to know your location, you can use ‘Ghost Mode’. If you post something to a location and make it public, people will be able to see that through the snap map, so be careful you are only sharing information you want others to see.
Sharing on snap stories. If you don’t want certain people seeing what you post, you can choose whether everyone can see your story, just your friends, or just a specific group your choosing.
Sending Snaps. You can choose to let ‘Everyone’ send you snaps, including strangers, or just your friends.
You can read more about protecting your privacy on Snapchat here.
Facebook is designed for connecting with people, so they require you to use your real name, contact details, and birthday – but you can choose who sees some of those details. Check out the privacy settings on your Facebook account to set who can see information about you. Some other things you can do to keeep yourself safe on Facebook are:
Choosing a profile picture. You don’t have to use a picture of yourself, so choose whatever you are comfortable with or just leave it blank.
Commenting and reacting. If you comment or react to a public post, anyone is able to see that, so be careful about what you might want others to see.
Accepting friends. Only accept friends who you actually know and trust.
You can read more about protecting your privacy on Facebook here.
