Social networking is getting popular every day, to the extent that it would surprise people if you do not have a social networking account. There are many social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc. Users share a lot of info on these sites like their thoughts, ideas in the form of status updates, share links, videos and even their personal info so that their old friends can contact them through these sites. But have we ever wondered how much of the personal info is fine to be shared on these sites. Although these social networks can be fun to keep in touch with friends and family, they might be dangerous too. Posting photos, videos, personal info and other info can turn against you. Your info might be tampered and used in a wrong way and you might be a victim of cyber crime.

There are some things you must not post on these sites and below are some of those.

  1. Birth details- You should never reveal the details of your place and date of birth. It poses a risk of identity theft. They are most common security questions on password resetting sites.
  2. Address-It puts you at stake again from identity fraud and also puts you at risk from stalkers.
  3. Mother’s Maiden Name- A lot of websites uses the user’s mother’s maiden name to authenticate their identity.
  4. Holidays- If you post an update about where you are going to spend your holiday and from when, it might indirectly sound burglars can come and rob my home while I am out.
  5. Inappropriate content- Never post offensive, racist, illicit photos on these sites. Remember your colleagues and boss do have these accounts too any bad jokes or info about your company could cause you trouble. Sometimes tweets might be mistaken for genuine threats and can send you behind the bars.
  6. Confessions- Never confess on these social networking sites, they can get you fired or cause you trouble. Posting about doing something wrong, skiving work etc is dumb and has consequences.
  7. Phone number- Unless you want to get bombarded with phone calls of unsolicited nature from unknown people
  8. Children’s names- Identity fraudsters might use the names as it is easy to steal a child’s identity. Adults will discover eventually when something is wrong like their credit rating, but children cannot know.
  9. Never post a complete public profile- Never complete your public profile on social sites as they will not be confined to Facebook or Twitter but will be available for search on any internet search like Google, yahoo, bing etc. Just give your name that is all and keep other info private.

So, next time you share something on social site avoid the above listed.