Tips on Secure Social Networking

The global phenomenon known as Social Networking has people around the world in their millions sharing photos, music, games and personal information on such sites as MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and countless others. There are a few very important aspects that you should adhere to if you do not want the more criminally minded out there to steal your identity and rob you of your life, financial and otherwise.

Sharing information online like photos and your latest holiday or adventure is perfectly acceptable, as long everyone keep in mind a few things which NOT to disclose ever. Period!

Your Address:

Should be a no brainer - right? You would be surprised at the percentage of people out there in cyberworld that actually supply this information to one site or another. According to various studies performed some 40% listed their address on social networking sites, 65% were not using the security privacy settings appropriately and 60% of people had 'friends' on their list which were not really friends or even passing acquaintances.

Upcoming Holiday Plans:

If you do this then you might as well just post a sign on your front door telling people when it is time for them to come and rob you!

By all means share this information and photos - just make sure that you do so once you have returned!

Date Of Birth:

Obviously, letting people know what day you were born is fine. However, if you divulge your fill date of birth online then you are giving this information out to people who may easily obtain further information about you based on your date of birth.

Think about the security questions that you are asked from legitimate sources ie: Banks etc... One of the key pieces of information that they ask you is your date of birth.

Do not hand this information out unnecessarily!

This goes as well for information like: your mothers maiden name, your pets names, your favorite songs. All this type of information is usually based on security information concerning passwords and the like!

Confessions and Behavior:

In recent times we are hearing more and more about people losing their jobs, not getting insurance or being investigated by police all based on the information that has been uploaded to internet sites.

Be careful what you say, how you say it and who you demean online. These things can easily come back to haunt you.

The future of technology is never known but one of the interesting things being developed currently is something called face mapping. In a nutshell, this process will be able to identify you in any photo, regardless of whether you were the person who posted it or not.

Imagine being 'tagged' in a photo online that you had no idea had actually been posted! Be very careful as to whom you allow onto your friends lists and what kind of information they share about you.

Over time we have all been conditioned to believe that the information that we supply will stay private. Things like banks, hospitals, electoral rolls and government agencies have asked for personal information about ourselves that we have been happy to divulge without a second thought. Unfortunately, that kind of mentality has now seeped into online sites.

You should always consider any information that you give out online to be available somehow and never private.

In summary, you should consider every post, photo, byline, tag and information that you post to online sites as having a dedicated wall with that information at your biggest shopping centre/mall - available to be seen by everyone who walks by and worse, modifiable by them.

Would You Do This?

Elite Business Solutions Frank Perez has successfully combined all the skills of a designer, programmer, and marketer to continuously and consistently deliver business solutions entailing everything from marketing to software. He is highly regarded and sought after for his professionalism and integrity.

Frank runs an elite business marketing and software design firm based out of Melbourne, Australia.

Frank is available for guest blogging, article writing, speaking events and software projects.

Frank Perez
Owner
Tazz 1 Pty Ltd

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