Social media has become such a big of our every day lives that we’ve arguably become a little too comfortable with it. When a policy change is made public or a text message scandal hits the press, it is a harsh reminder that we can’t necessarily always control what happens to the photos and words we put online. In just the past few months online privacy has popped up in the media multiple times, prompting us to think about what we’re really doing when we hit that share button.
By Chloe Schneider
We asked Marina Go, Publisher of Crikey, The Power Index and Women’s Agenda at Private Media and all-round Internet-savvy power player for a few tips on how to protect your personal privacy:
1. Think very carefully before posting anything at all via social media. Only post photos that you would be comfortable with anyone seeing including your mother, partner, children, or employer.
2. Each form of social media has its benefits. Be strategic with how you use it. For example, Facebook for me is for friends. Only friends can access my page. And then I have a number of secret (locked) groups for my personal sharing with select groups. Twitter and LinkedIn are less personal but important with regard to your personal brand. What you post and re-post or retweet can say a lot about you.
4. Ensure that you set your privacy settings so that no one publish anything on Facebook without your permission. Well-meaning friends have tried to publish some hysterical photos from my teenage years that I have been able to block from public view.
5. Start secret groups for the sharing of old memories etc. I have a number of secret groups on Facebook with different sets of friends. That way we can chat, plan and laugh about things that we wouldn’t want to share with the rest of the world.
6. As a woman I am wary of the geo-locator function of some forms of social media. I only check-in on Facebook when I am comfortable with the world knowing where I am. If you check-in everywhere you go then it is easy for you to be located. There can be a sinister downside to that, so be strategic and be careful.
A wise mentor once told me that the most important thing was to manage your image and reputation. She only ever allowed the media to publish one photo of her in the 20 years that I knew her. While that may be a bit extreme, managing images of yourself that are forever in the public domain is critical.
