It is the 21st century and nothing is safe when it comes to online and over the internet thing. So safety is always in your hands, most of the time in which this younger generation got its hands on is Social Media or Social Networking from Facebook, Instagram to Snapchat, every app has a definite time per user per day. This is a Social Media Guide to safety for students and grown-ups.

Social media are basically the websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

Why is Social media necessary, why do we need it? What is the purpose of it? We live in a time where it’s not possible to be physically connected to everybody we know. Our childhood friends, high school pals, best friends, teachers, relatives staying abroad, the list is practically endless. Today, thanks to social media reach, we can connect with them.

How important is social media for my business? Remember the post that went viral? Or the video that crossed 10 million views on YouTube? That’s how miraculous social media is! Social media is like a magic wand for a person or company who is building a brand.

Billions around the world love to utilize social media and its apps for various purposes. It allows them easy accessibility and response.

Social Media Tips and Guide to safety for students and grown-ups

  • Strong and unique Password Usage

It’s a pain, but it is also absolutely essential that you don’t use the same password nor easy password for any social media. Use a unique password for every social media, to remember them just make notes. To make passwords strong use special characters or signs like @, #, etc. Always add numbers and capital letters too, using a combination of all 3 will make your password strong.

  • Customize your security settings

Generally, people don’t know they can increase the security of their social media accounts just by changing a few settings inside your account’s security and privacy settings. Don’t enable posts for the public generally.

Enable 2-Factor Authentication for login in Settings of your Account. Twofactor authentication (2FA), sometimes referred to as two-step verification or dual-factor authentication, is a security process in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves. In easy language, it is just kind of OTP for a further step of verification for you to log in. Almost every social media has this option but people don’t use it, because they don’t know about it.

To know more tips and tricks for increasing your account security tenfolds, read How to Increase the Security of Social Media Accounts, Prevent Hacking

  • Don’t click on unnecessary links or inboxes

There are a few people spamming links in inboxes, never click any link you find fishy, just don’t click any link from an unknown source. Because these might be phishing links or dangerous links. Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending links or emails acting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. Never click on any links sent by a stranger to you.

Always check for HTTPS (padlock sign) on the top left corner on a website if you have opened it and also check that it is not a fake website copying the original one.

  • Be careful about what you share and check login history

Always be careful about the activity going in on your account, check daily. Also, do check the login history from settings, so that you will know who, from which device, from which location your current account is logged in from.

  • Delete old unused accounts

If you have old unused accounts, they might be the target of hackers, you must delete or deactivate them from settings if they are not in use at all. Also, log out from unused devices that you don’t use now.

  • Check your mailbox daily

The first place where you get informed that your account has been hacked is your email. Stay vigilant and do checkout E-mails regularly. Once someone has hacked your account it would be very difficult to get it back.

  • Don’t post too personal information

Never share too much personal information like physical addresses, bank details, bank card details, gadget details, or anything related because that is what potential hackers are mostly looking for.

Thanks for reading Social Media Guide to safety for students and grown-ups. Also, check about What is Cyberbullying? What to do if bullied, precautions.