We live in the modern world, which means that social media has become a part of everyday life. High net worth individuals and celebrities use social media all the time. It’s how they connect with their fans and other industry leaders, after all. However, when it comes to protecting your privacy, social media can be your downfall.
Consider all of the images of you floating around social media right now. Maybe there are even some posts that you made years ago that were in poor taste. These things can come back to bite you. Not to mention, using social media gives people with bad intentions the information they need to do you harm.
Protecting Your Social Media Privacy
Since social media is almost unavoidable, creating an anonymous, behind the scenes, social media account can keep you connected to the people who matter most, without compromising your privacy and safety. Here are a few tips:
Use Fake Information
You should never set up a social media account with your real name, email, or address. Instead, set it up with a fake email address that can be forwarded to your real one. You should also avoid setting your profile picture to a photo of you.
Instead, find an image online that you can use. Using a fake name will be pointless if you use a real photo of yourself as the profile image. Even if your account has a fake name, bad people will still recognize the photo and be able to follow your every move.
Also, remember, everything is crackable. Your phone, email, and social media are all easily crackable. In fact, social media is one of the easiest things for hackers to get into. For this reason, it’s never a good idea to use real information about yourself that can be traced back.
Set Up a Fake Phone Number
If you have to sign up with social media with a phone number, make sure not to use your real one. Even if you hide the number on your page, people can still easily find it. In fact, people can also look you up via your cell phone number on Facebook if you signed up using that number or have it in your contact information on the page.
This fake number should be one that’s at least out of state, if not out of the country. You don’t want people with bad intentions being able to get ahold of this number and use it against you to invade your privacy or reverse search it online to find out where you live.
Use Two-Factor Authentication for Your Account
All social media accounts offer you the ability to use two-factor authentication. This type of authentication means that if someone knows your password, they will have to know other information to be able to log in.
This method means that your account will be secure. You will not have to worry about people breaking into your account to post on your page or stealing valuable information that might be in your private messages.
Good Password Protection
Your password is the first guard against unwanted visitors. By installing a long and complicated password, you can prevent people from breaching your social media accounts to wreak havoc on your life. Let’s say that you’re an important, high-net-worth, business person, and you sometimes message other organizations privately.
If your information and messages are important to you and what’s inside them absolutely private, you need to have a quality password. We recommend a password of 25 characters long with numbers included. Also, never use basic information that someone would know about you, like your dog’s name or your birthday.
Never Post Your Location
If you absolutely must use social media, never post your location. If you’re using your personal account, with all of your real information and photos, make sure that you can’t be tracked. If you are at a certain restaurant or museum, make sure that you don’t tell the public by posting the name of the place or the actual city/state where you are.
You can set your VPN to a different country easily so that no one can ever know where you are.
Consider Your Personal Details
Your personal details can tell people a lot about you. Even posting your contact email in your profile lets people know which account they should hack into.
Most people have extremely important information in their emails that they need secure. However, by just giving someone with basic computer skills your work email address, they may be able to hack in and tell the world about your company and business dealings.
Try Encrypted Communication
We understand that social media is necessary sometimes, especially if you are promoting a new brand, place, or product. However, when you want something to be secure, it’s best to hide it from the public.
Instead of sending direct messages on social media, try encrypted communication to protect and secure data and sensitive information. When we register emails and new phones, we use completely fake emails, names, and addresses so that there’s no connection to a real person. Encryption helps ensure anonymity and privacy to reduce the number of opportunities criminals have to use your communications against you.
Following the above tips provides an extra and essential layer of protection and security, which helps reduce the risk of violent behavior and malintent from those who wish to do you harm.
