Social Media Safety Tips For Students

Stay Connected- The very first thing that comes to our mind is, Social Networking Sites which no doubt is a great way to stay connected and reach out to the people around the world. However, it can be troublesome, if not used carefully and correctly. One wrong click or input on LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook or Google+, may risk our personal information security. Here the biggest question is, how can you stay safe on social media?, Shall we stop using Social Networking sites? The answer is “No”, but yes we have to be more careful while using social media.

5 Social Media Safety Tips for Students

1. Avoid third party links: You have to be conscious about what has to be clicked or followed on the social networking sites. You must have seen the links Like: “Jaaniye Apne Naam Ka Matlab”, “Know your Twins”, “Jaaniye Apna Bhavishya”, “Who is your best Friend” etc. When you click on these links, they first ask permission to see your personal information and generally people allow them, in the excitement of getting results. But actually these links are made specially to fetch the personal information of the users.

2. Never Share your confidential numbers: Never share your secret numbers like Bank Account Number, Adhaar Card Number, PAN number, Credit card number, Mobile No. etc, on social networks. The hackers continuously keep an eye on such numbers and they can invite trouble for you by using your secret numbers in a negative way.

3. Sharing organization details– Be Conscious: One has to be alert if he/she shares work place details on social networks. The intruder can hack your official email id (that generally includes the server name of the organization) and can use the same to circulate false information or fetch any kind of secret details.

4. Don’t make everything Public: Social networking sites provide the privacy settings in the user’s hands only. You are advised to use the feature of “Customize Privacy Settings” for your social accounts. Don’t go with the default privacy settings; always change the privacy settings as per the security measures you want to incorporate.

5. Don’t always share your location: Avoid sharing your current location on social networks. Don’t post or comment, like “Away from home, returning back on ____”. Sharing such kind of information may call for trouble.

Your security is in your hand, Don’t let other people steal it through social media.  So be conscious and surf safe!!!!

Written By:-  Dr. Jyoti Pruthi, Associate-Head,CST, MRU