Weekly – Cyber Tip: Social Media Privacy Settings

Brandon Young

What is meant by social media privacy setting and are there guidelines to achieve privacy on these platforms?

Tip: Social media privacy settings are tools that allow you to control who can see your posts, personal information, and interactions on social media platforms. Think of them as digital locks and keys for your online life. Ideally the settings would allow control for users to control:
  • Posts and Photos: Choose who can see what you share.
  • Personal Information: Decide who can view details like your birthday or email.
  • Interactions: Control who can comment on your posts, send you messages, or tag you in photos.
These settings help keep your online life private and secure. Below are some simple guided steps, recommendations and video to help you set up your social media privacy settings:
  1. Review and Update Privacy Settings Regularly
    • Set your account to private: Ensure your profiles are only visible to friends or connections, not the public.
    • Limit who can see your posts: You can control if “friends” or “friends of friends” can view your content.
    • Disable location tracking: Turn off geo-tagging to prevent your location from being shared in posts.
  2. Control Who Can Find and Contact You
    • Adjust search settings: Prevent your profile from being indexed by search engines.
    • Limit friend requests: Restrict who can send you friend requests to people you know.
    • Review tagged posts: Enable review settings for posts in which others tag you before they appear on your timeline.
  3. Manage Data and App Permissions
    • Limit third-party access: Only allow trusted apps to connect to your social media accounts.
    • Revoke permissions regularly: Periodically remove apps you no longer use.
    • Be cautious with external logins: Avoid using social media accounts to log in to other websites or apps.
Secure Settings recommendations: Video: Beware social media (youtube.com)

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