Orkut, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, LinkedIn…. These are the buzzwords offering social life for millions of netizens across the world. Social Networking sites facilitate expressing yourself on internet. There is no restriction on words, network and most importantly privacy. Yes, it is possible for everybody to peep into your profile and avail your basic data like Employer, Date of Birth, Native Place, Family details, Contact Numbers and many more. Great! You will become known face for thousands of people living on net. But you should also remember that all these details might have been provided for some other most important financial transactions and internet logins etc. Here comes the problem along with joy and josh of social networking.
There are so many ways to protect yourself from misuse of social networking. Don’t always expect that all your friend’s friends are your friends also. You must also follow internet ethics in your posts on social networking sites.
Follow these tips for secure Social Networking. It is estimated that children studying below 10th class in India are spending more than 5 hours on social networking sites daily. Parents must educate their children on the misuse of personal data on inter net. Don’t make your profile public. You have relevant options in Orkut and Facebook. If you are using Facebook, go to ‘Privacy Settings’ and choose ‘Customise Settings’ tab. You can change privacy settings of your profile from this tab.
If you are using Orkut, go to ‘Settings’, then ‘Privacy” and choose from the option ‘Who can see the content on my profile’ It is always better to opt for ‘Only my friends’ considering the chances of misuse of personal data by unknown persons. Think once before posting your company and business details. Always use spam filters. It is better to go for alternative methods for uploading family and personal images / photos than loading them to social networking sites. Never click on the links came from unknown persons and email ids. If there is any contact info of senders along with mail, try to confirm the identity of the sender and open the attachment or link if necessary.