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There’s a trade-off involved anytime you use social media these days. That’s because you are leaving behind a trail of data everywhere you go online. And all of that data, if it’s used by the wrong people, can cause some serious problems for you later. In a worst-case scenario, these problems could deal a real blow to your online reputation.
The problem, of course, is that it’s almost impossible to predict what data might get you into trouble. Take, for example, something as simple as “liking” a post online. Well, did you know that there have been people fired from their jobs for liking the wrong content?
And the potential for bad behavior increases significantly, the more data that you leave online. If you’re in a troubled relationship, for example, geolocation data could lead to you being stalked online. Or to scammers using all of that data to impersonate you online with a fake social media profile.
Rising threats online
Granted, this might sound a bit alarmist. But the data suggests that this is a very real problem across social media. For example, in an average year, 1 in 10 Americans will experience some form of identity theft. And last year alone, more than 3 million Americans were stalked on social media. According to the FBI, cyberstalking is now more prevalent than ever.
And the situation gets even more depressing when you consider how many important decisions are being made about you, based on what you’ve said or done on social media. Often, this happens without you even knowing it’s happening. You’ve probably heard of high school graduates having their college acceptance offers withdrawn after social media posts were discovered online. Or hiring managers passing on job candidates, based on what they saw on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. You might think it’s fun to post party pics online, but potential employers do not.
How to protect your reputation
The good news is that there are specific steps that you can take to protect your reputation online. Yes, it will require a bit of effort on your part, but these steps can significantly reduce the risk of having your online social media data used for nefarious purposes.
For example, you can update your social media account settings. If you are very concerned about scammers, you can make your account private, such that random strangers can not even see your posts.
And you can take steps to make unauthorized access to your account much harder to achieve. As a precautionary measure, for example, you can turn on two-factor authentication (often abbreviated as just 2FA). That way, simply having access to your account data won’t be enough to compromise your account. Once you turn on 2FA, any scammer will also need access to the physical device that you use to access the internet.
Is there a silver bullet?
Unfortunately, there is no 100% surefire way to protect your social media reputation online. For example, there’s nothing you can do about data breaches that are taking place at companies with alarming regularity. Those data breaches could result in your passwords, login credentials, or personal information being released into the wild.
That being said, it’s definitely worth exploring the types of proactive steps that you can take to protect your reputation. An ounce of prevention, as they say, is worth a pound of cure.
