Digital Privacy Checklist
Do you know what information can be found out about you online? Scammers, hackers and criminals can use your social media to uncover personal details about your life that can be used to answer security questions, create fake profiles or even steal your identity. Every once in a while it’s a good idea to take a look at each of your personal social media profiles to analyze how your own presence appears. This is a great task to complete a couple times each year, put it on the calendar (right next to changing your smoke detector batteries)!
How to button up your internet presence on social media
Check your posting audience. Change your default Facebook privacy setting to Friends Only. If you have a post up that has a globe next to the timestamp, that means it's visible to all of Facebook. Be sure anything you post to all of Facebook is actually something you're okay with the whole world (including current/future employers) seeing. Double check your privacy settings on Instagram and Twitter. Are your accounts public? Consider making them private.
“Hey Google!” Google search your name in "quotes." See what comes up and tidy up anything you don't like. Don't forget about Pinterest!
Help Wanted? If you are not actively searching for a job, turn off your LinkedIn public profile visibility. This also will ensure your profile eventually gets removed from search results by search engines like Google.
Location, location, location. Take your current employer/school/university out of your Facebook bio, or make it visible to friends only. Keep in mind your Instagram and Twitter biographies are also visible to the public, even if your account is set to private.
“View As” someone else. Go to your Facebook profile, click the button with the three dots and select "View As." This shows you what your profile looks like to anyone who isn't your friend. Change the privacy setting to “Friends Only” on any posts you don’t want visible.
Lock down your friends list. Make your friends list invisible to people viewing your page. It’s likely that your friends don't have their online privacy/security buttoned down either and people can infer your location, workplace, family, etc. from your friends list.
Tell me about yourself… or not. Set your Facebook about section to private, especially if you have family members listed.
Last Friday Night…! Check your tagged photos on Instagram, if there’s something you don’t want posted ask the original poster to remove it. If they refuse, you can always remove the tag so it doesn’t appear on your page. Turn on Tag Approvals in Facebook settings to require your green light before they can appear on your timeline in the first place.
Use a screen name for handles. Instead of using your full name on social media, try using a middle name or some other variation.
#NewProfilePic. Since your profile picture is visible to the public, use a digital portrait or a photo of something that isn't you. If you use social media for business, select a professional headshot. Same goes for your Facebook cover photo.
Routinely purge your friends list. Use the living room test. Scroll through your friends list and ask yourself “would I feel comfortable inviting this person into my living room?” If you wouldn’t, delete them. They {probably} won’t even notice.
When was the last time you did a deep dive into your own social media? If you’d like an outsider to review your pages, submit a contact request for a free personal mini audit!
Is there anything else you routinely check on your personal socials? Let me know in the comments!
