Managing your Online Safety requires just a bit of awareness.
Many of us travel alone and online social networks (like our Gypsy Nurse Network) have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. Although these social networks are a great way to find support and stay connected with both family and friends across the nation, you should be wary about what and how much personal information that you post. Online safety is of utmost importance. Here are 5 tips to help you!
Privacy, and Security Settings
Check your privacy and security settings on your social networks. Make sure that you know who is seeing what you post.
Facebook Privacy Settings:
Click at the top right of any Facebook page and select Settings. In the left-hand column, click Timeline and Tagging. Look for the setting Who can see posts you’ve been tagged in on your Timeline? and click Edit to the far right. Choose an audience from the dropdown menu.
Twitter Privacy Settings
Scroll down to the privacy section, then check the “Protect my Tweets” box to make your account private. Scroll down to the bottom of the settings page, and click on “Save changes”. Going forward, all of the tweets you publish will be protected, and will only be seen by your current Twitter followers.
Personal Information
Be cautious of what personal information you share. Hackers, stalkers, and the like can use the personal information that you post to gain access to your accounts, steal your identity, or find out where you are
Your Online Reputation
Don’t post anything that you wouldn’t say to someone in person. Once you post something, the possibility of it coming back is real. It’s easy for someone to take a screen-shot of your posts and re-post (sometimes out of the context of the original conversation).
Think twice before you post a photo that you wouldn’t want your parents or employer to see. According to 2014 study by CareerBuilder,
“…51 percent of employers who research job candidates on social media said they’ve found content that caused them to not hire the candidate.”
Know and Manage your Friends
Social networks can be used for a variety of purposes. Much of the fun of social networks for the traveler is meeting with other travelers and maintaining friendships that you’ve made along the way. This doesn’t mean that all friends should be created equal. There are social settings that you can use to determine who sees what. Use them! I would also recommend that you avoid simply adding someone as a friend just because another friend is connected to them. Do your own due diligence and check out any potential ‘friends’ before adding them.
Know what and how to Report
If someone is harassing, bullying, or just annoying you there are multiple ways to deal with it. If it’s harassing or bullying behavior, remove them as a friend, block them and report. If someone is just being annoying you can block and remove them on most social media outlets.
FACEBOOK:
To report someone on Facebook for bullying, spam or harassing behaviors: https://www.facebook.com/help/181495968648557
Facebook Groups
For Facebook Groups, I always recommend reporting to the Administrators of the group before reporting directly to Facebook. Give the admin an opportunity to quell the issues. See how to report to Admin Here.
TWITTER:
To Report someone on Twitter https://support.twitter.com/forms/abusiveuser
