Simple Is Better

Posted May 25th 2010 7:37AM by Francis Duncan
Filed under: Internet Safety Tips, Sharing Info Online, Online Safety Tips, Social Networking

Recently Facebook has been under fire for a variety of reasons relating to privacy. For the record, I still have my Facebook profile. I do, however, treat Facebook like I do my personal blog, like I do any other place online where I can share a piece of myself. Anything I want to be kept private, I simply don't put online. I have posted tips on keeping yourself and your family safe while online, but I think CommonSenseMedia summed it up quite nicely:

3 Simple Rules to Keep in Mind

Stick with your friends. Have your teens limit their privacy settings to Only Friends. That'll restrict who sees your kids' information, including pictures, videos, and applications they use.
Keep private information private. When filling out their bios, teens can leave fields blank. There is no need for your teens to post their phone numbers or addresses. These features are optional and aren't required to create a Facebook account.
Don't let your information get away from you. If your teens haven't restricted who can share their information, their personal data can end up in the hands of marketers. Also, advise your teens to be on the lookout for personal information requests -- like their birthday or music playlist -- from third parties. And make sure your teens uncheck the public search results box so people can't find their Facebook page through a Google search.

What are some simple tips you have to keep yourself and family safe while online?

Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

WebMom 6-01-2010 @ 8:25PM

Great points! We all need to remember that Facebook and other social networking sites have value and we don't need to stop using them (or order our teens to stop using them). We need to be smart about what we do and share online.

SafetyWeb is a new service that is dedicated to helping parents guard their kid's online safety, identity, and reputation. The site has tons of free resources for parents. SafetyWeb also provides a blog with recent updates and tips about online safety.

http://www.safetyweb.com/parents

kelly 6-03-2010 @ 5:41PM

There is a webinar coming up that addresses this exact issue that I just registered for: http://bit.ly/cR80Al. Looks like it is really going to explore the concepts of social media in the workplace on a different level