Are you planning to use social media to expand your network professionally? Regardless if you are using it on a purpose or you are simply using it for communication and for your enjoyment, you have to be reminded about the safety tips in using it. These tips can help you avoid incidents that may occur from careless using:
1.Think first before posting anything.
Your status or tweet could reach so many people. Years ago, Bill Maher described a coverage about Haiti as a “brain fart” on Twitter. Later on, he was shocked to hear it being quoted on a TV show.
2.Keep your valuable data only to yourself.
Never share any personal detail about you or your life on social media. There are a lot of issues regarding this because there are people who get this information for hacking and scamming.
3.Never share anything you will regret sharing.
Even if it’s just a simple tweet or a status, there’s a chance people will already screengrab it before you delete them. The Archive.org may not be retrieving data from the social media network, but this only goes to show that sooner, your social media data will also be possibly retrieved even if you already removed them.
4.Be vigilant in sharing username and passwords.
If you just availed the services of a social network monitoring service, chances are they will be asking for your social media credentials to begin with. Before you do, make sure you clearly understood their terms and agreement.
5.Choose the people you add online.
There’s nothing wrong in being friendly to everyone. But that’s in real world. In social media networks, you have to be selective. Otherwise, you might just be befriending the wrong person.
6.Have a specific approach for each platform.
LinkedIn is a platform dedicated to your professional acquaintances. It goes without saying that you have to be formal when using it unlike in Facebook, where your usual followers are just your family and friends.
7.Send your messages only to the people who should be seeing it.
In such case, you can use the “Direct Message” feature on Instagram or Instant Messaging on Facebook.
8.Don’t hang out on too many sites.
This is one of the biggest rookie mistakes. When you join in almost all platforms you see, you will spend time on these sites and forget other stuff you should be doing.
9.Be someone worth following.
People will unfollow someone if he is a lurker. Don’t be like that. Instead, let people know that you are there to share valuable information. This will prevent bullying which is a big issue right now on social media.
10.Don’t post stuff that will clearly annoy people.
Sharing that it’s raining in your place may sound normal to you. But some people don’t just care about that. To protect yourself from being bashed, just be on the safe side. Don’t post mediocre things and those that you know people will be raising their eyebrows at.