Social networks are enormous, highly searchable data storehouses. Given that, it’s typically a bad idea to post any personally identifiable information on them because you don’t know who might see it. Don’t ever share your address, birthday or Social Security number in any online public forum, whether Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or a message board.

While some social media may seem securer for connecting because of the limited personal information shared through them, keep your connections to people you know and trust. Also, the default setting for the status update on most social networking apps is that anyone on the Internet can see it. If you only want your trusted […]

If you do not regularly use an account, it shouldn’t exist. If an account that you don’t check regularly gets hacked, you may not even notice until the hacker causes significant damage. You may think that your old social media accounts don’t contain much sensitive information, but you’d be surprised. They might contain your email, […]

The Internet is a public resource – post only information you are comfortable with anyone seeing. This includes information and photos in your profile and in blogs and other forums. Also, once you post information online, you can’t retract it. Even if you remove the information from a site, saved or cached versions may still […]

The Internet makes it easy for people to distort their identities and intentions. Consider restricting the people who are allowed to contact you on these social sites. If you interact with people you do not know, be careful about the amount of information you reveal or especially agreeing to meet them in person.

Instagram allows you to restrict a user, which is effectively a shadow-ban. Once restricted, their comments can’t be seen by anyone else. The restricted user gets no indication that they’ve been limited, making “restrict” often a better option than “block,” since the latter results in them noticing they can’t see your feed.