Most people are spending at least 3 hours a day browsing through their social media accounts, whether they are just posting something new, responding to some comments, browsing other people’s page, looking at the latest news, or doing anything else. Social media has become an integral part for many people’s lives nowadays. People are liberally sharing what they think on social media. They even liberally writing rude comments to those that are contrary to their opinions. Because of this, many governments are actively monitoring the social media platforms to spot the people that might be dangerous to the government’s agenda.
This is why each second that you are spending on social media is always being monitored by lots of people. The government, your followers, your friends, your ISP, and many other third parties that might be interested in what you are saying. If you are not careful about what you are doing on these social media networks, then you are in for a trouble. Here are 5 types of social media posts that can be a danger for your online privacy:
1. Provocative Comments Against The Government
One of the reasons Chinese government is banning VPN usage is that in some cases, when people are posting provocative comments against the government, the government has a difficulty tracking the comment source if the people commenting are using a VPN connection. Thus, to make things simple and monitor everything effortlessly, some governments are applying certain internet restrictions that limit how people use the internet as well as discouraging them from using any VPN system. Even when the government is not restrictive, beware of putting comments that might provoke the government as you might be on the watch list, which is bad for your privacy.
2. Posting About The Minute Details Of Your Daily Life
What did you do today? If you are posting about various details of your daily life on a day-to-day basis, then you are in for a privacy danger. For instance, if you are posting every hour of your waking life, which detailed various things about how you go about your day, with whom you are with, where you are located, what you eat, how you sleep, and so on, then you might risk your online privacy. This is called over sharing, which simply means that you are sharing too much of your daily life on the internet. As a result, some bad people might be able to profile you and predict what you will do today. It will invite lots of stalkers and even robbers to your place.
3. Updating About Your Location Status In Real Time
Surely, if you want to be stalked every day, just let people know where you’re at whenever you go to certain places. There are cases where people reported the police that they were being stalked by some strangers. The police then investigated the cause as to why the stalkers can know the location of the victims. It turned out that the victims kept on sharing their location in real time using the social media platforms like Facebook and Foursquare, which is why the stalkers can find their location easily. If you keep on updating your location every day in real time, the risk of meeting with stalkers and suspicious people will be higher.
4. Throwing Away Your Personal Information Online
Of course, social media like Facebook will give you the opportunity to fill in your profile information in the ‘About You’ section. However, when you give up too much information about yourself, it might backfire you. This is especially true if you keep updating about your personal information online. For instance, by letting people know your full birthday or your mother’s maiden name. If you are only dealing with family members, then it’s fine. But, if you are dealing with strangers in social media, it’s not fine to throw away your personal information online. Basically, don’t treat social media as your online CV.
5. Posting Your Private Photos Online And Tagging Them
You might think that any normal person wouldn’t share any private photos on social media. However, the fact of the matter is that more and more people are using social media to share their private photos, either directly or indirectly. Of course, they can make such photos private, but you are risking your own online privacy by doing that. This is especially true when you tag those photos with other people, which can be very dangerous for their online privacy as well. For instance, posting the photo of a drunk friend, posting sensual photos to get attention, or posting your private moments with your lover. You should refrain from sharing these types of photos online.
Those are the 5 types of social media posts that can be a danger to your online privacy. Remember that whatever you do online is your responsibility to hold. Of course, when you post anything that can be a danger to your online privacy, you have to be ready for the consequences as well. This is why you should refrain from doing so.