With social media becoming increasingly popular day by day, privacy and safety issues have now become a serious concern for just about everyone associated with this latest medium of social interaction. In a world where most of us are literally addicted to the various social media applications including Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube etc, being aware of the ways to suitably leverage these applications, particularly when it comes to the disclosure of private information is extremely important. So, here a few things you need to keep in mind before posting anything online.
Whether you’re posting a message to your friends or writing a short sentence, always consider the possible consequences of your action. Thinking about how a hacker, employer, or even your business rival could use the data can help you avoid leaking any form of critical information. One of the dumbest mistakes people make is sharing their specifics such as residential addresses, birth dates, names of relatives or pets, contact information, or even worse, financial details.

People have a habit of openly sharing every bit of their daily routines, which can often lead to unavoidable trouble. For instance, by telling everyone that you’ll be out this weekend, you’re actually making it easier for the burglars to break into your house. Besides, when uploading personal photos and videos, most people are careless and simply have no idea how these could be misused.

In light of the growing online identity and security concerns, most of these popular social media websites have improved their privacy policies with users being given the option of locking down their profiles. Unfortunately though, most of us are too lazy to make the most of these benefits.