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Good Practices

7 Assume all data you upload on Social Media networks will be Public Forever

In today’s advancement in communications media, the web can be used as a means to gather and save user information including highly sensitive personal data. Every data or information the user uploads in variuos social media networks goes into their individual permanent and public digital files.

Following are guidelines that you can consider when uploading data on social media networks:

  • Do not post messages or images that you will regret many years later

    Social networks do not necessarily guarantee the security of the information that has been uploaded to a profile, even when those posts are set to be private or are intended for a number of persons/recipient (friends) only. The most common posts regretted in the future revolve around sensitive topics like, alcohol, sex, politics, religion, relationships or emotional content.
  • There are companies that scan social media sites and collect data on you

    Most users of popular social media sites don’t know that anyone can view their private information and pictures if shared publicly. Companies such as digital marketing companies are searching, scanning, storing and repurposing these images to draw insights for big-brand advertisers. There are no laws forbidding publicly available photos from being analyzed in bulk, because the images were posted by the user for anyone to see and download.
  • Keep private information private

    Some users of various social media networks are too careless with how they manage their personal information and activities online. These users are vulnerable to identity theft and invasion of privacy, both from legitimate and illegitimate sources. Online privacy depends on the user’s ability to control both the amount of personal information that they provide and who has access to that information. In order to keep private information safe, avoid sharing them especially through social media networks.