Kim Key discusses in her article titled “Stop Oversharing: How to Make Your Social Profiles Private,” the risks associated with oversharing on social media platforms and offers practical steps to enhance privacy and security. Key emphasizes that oversharing can make individuals vulnerable to various threats, including scams, stalking, and data breaches. She outlines four key steps to secure one’s online presence:
- Change Privacy Settings: Switch your public profile to a private one and control who can see your posts.
- Use a Password Manager: Create unique passwords for each social media account and manage them using a password manager.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication: Use an authenticator app or a hardware security key as an additional layer of security.
- Delete Public Social Profiles: As a last resort, delete your social media accounts to mitigate risks.
Key also shares her personal experience of oversharing during her teenage years and how it led her to reconsider her online privacy. She concludes by encouraging readers to think critically before posting anything online and to use secure messaging platforms for more private conversations.
Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
- Who is Your Audience?: Before posting anything online, consider who you want to see it. Is it something you’d be comfortable sharing with strangers or potential scammers?
- Longevity of Online Data: The internet never forgets. Are you okay with your posts being accessible indefinitely?
- Balance of Public and Private: How can one maintain a public profile for professional reasons while also safeguarding personal information?
Source: Key, K. (n.d.). Stop Oversharing: How to Make Your Social Profiles Private. PCMag. Retrieved from PCMag Website