Top 7 Tips for Social Networking

  1. Password safety! Create a unique password for the social network. Don’t share it with anyone (other than your parent, if you are a minor). If you've already shared it with someone, login and change it! If you can register more than one email address to the account, do that too. This can come in handy if your account is ever hacked, giving you another way to recover the account from the hacker. 
  2. Privacy is yours to control. Take the steps to look at your social network account’s privacy settings. Start out by selecting the greatest control, and limit access to your profile, photos, videos, and postings to Friends only. The default setting on Facebook for minors, for example, is Friends of Friends, a potential audience of many thousands of people you don’t know at all. And don’t share so much information an identity thief can get a new credit card with a single glance.
  3. Choose Applications carefully. Each application (games, surveys, quizzes and contests) is made differently but all get some level of access to your private information. Read the agreement before clicking “Accept”. The manufacturer of your application may have rights you wouldn’t want to allow, such as getting your friend list. If you’ve accepted questionable applications in the past, you can remove or block them at any time.
  4. Beware Unknown Links. There has been a big increase in dangerous phishing efforts through social networks. Often they spread by infecting one account and posting links to infected websites with tempting phrases like “This is the funniest video EVER!” Run the free Norton Safe Web application on Facebook to check any links before you click.
  5. Select Your Friends Carefully. On a social network, your friends’ list is your most valuable asset. Protect yourself, your reputation and your friends by limiting your friends to people you actually know. People you know are those you actually have real world dealings with; such as classmates, neighbors, close family and relatives, work colleagues, community members and so forth. They are not the people the social network recommends, simply because you know someone in common. Friends are also not people who are fellow members of an online group or someone looking for new people to talk to. It’s simply not worth the risk.  And please “friend” your parents.
  6. Post for Permanency. What you post to your social network may stick around for a while, even if you change your mind and remove it later. Photos and videos can be saved, comments can be forwarded. If you are at all concerned about what might turn up in a web search sometime in the future by a potential employer or college admissions office, just post those items unlikely to cause someone to change their opinion of you in a negative way. That doesn’t mean you need to shed all bits of your personality. Rather, be mindful of what you post and the relative risk and reward it may have. 
  7. Be Kind Online. Let your online activities be an example to others and try to avoid using the sort of negative comments, hurtful language or embarrassing posts that can be painful to the target. Remember the Golden Rule and strive to avoid anything that might be considered cyberbullying.
  1. Password safety! Create a unique password for the social network. Don’t share it with anyone (other than your parent, if you are a minor). If you've already shared it with someone, login and change it! If you can register more than one email address to the account, do that too. This can come in handy if your account is ever hacked, giving you another way to recover the account from the hacker. 
  2. Privacy is yours to control. Take the steps to look at your social network account’s privacy settings. Start out by selecting the greatest control, and limit access to your profile, photos, videos, and postings to Friends only. The default setting on Facebook for minors, for example, is Friends of Friends, a potential audience of many thousands of people you don’t know at all. And don’t share so much information an identity thief can get a new credit card with a single glance.
  3. Choose Applications carefully. Each application (games, surveys, quizzes and contests) is made differently but all get some level of access to your private information. Read the agreement before clicking “Accept”. The manufacturer of your application may have rights you wouldn’t want to allow, such as getting your friend list. If you’ve accepted questionable applications in the past, you can remove or block them at any time.
  4. Beware Unknown Links. There has been a big increase in dangerous phishing efforts through social networks. Often they spread by infecting one account and posting links to infected websites with tempting phrases like “This is the funniest video EVER!” Run the free Norton Safe Web application on Facebook to check any links before you click.
  5. Select Your Friends Carefully. On a social network, your friends’ list is your most valuable asset. Protect yourself, your reputation and your friends by limiting your friends to people you actually know. People you know are those you actually have real world dealings with; such as classmates, neighbors, close family and relatives, work colleagues, community members and so forth. They are not the people the social network recommends, simply because you know someone in common. Friends are also not people who are fellow members of an online group or someone looking for new people to talk to. It’s simply not worth the risk.  And please “friend” your parents.
  6. Post for Permanency. What you post to your social network may stick around for a while, even if you change your mind and remove it later. Photos and videos can be saved, comments can be forwarded. If you are at all concerned about what might turn up in a web search sometime in the future by a potential employer or college admissions office, just post those items unlikely to cause someone to change their opinion of you in a negative way. That doesn’t mean you need to shed all bits of your personality. Rather, be mindful of what you post and the relative risk and reward it may have. 
  7. Be Kind Online. Let your online activities be an example to others and try to avoid using the sort of negative comments, hurtful language or embarrassing posts that can be painful to the target. Remember the Golden Rule and strive to avoid anything that might be considered cyberbullying.

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A great post with excellent advice. Now if only we could get everyone to observe the advice!!!