seoloungePrivacy on social media is currently the hottest topic. Social media and privacy always go hand-in-hand. Once you open your account on any social media platforms, your privacy is bound to get breached. Over the years, there have been several cases where social media platforms and apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter are blamed for breaching users’ privacy to collect data for a specific purpose.
Social media is a great way to connect with friends and strangers. Moreover, people love sharing their emotions in different forms. This social behaviour sometimes cost privacy hack. Social media platforms like WhatsApp introduce new privacy laws where they directly or indirectly collect data from users- both personal and business.
Currently, there are billions of social media platform users. Many of these platforms are free so that the only way companies can make money is by getting and selling the data for ad and branding purpose.
Facebook, for example, users’ user profiling techniques to show ‘relevant advertisements”. These ads are completely based on demographics, brands we follow and the location we live in.
Many of us are aware of the privacy hack, but still, end up using these platforms for self or business purpose. For social media giants, selling advertisement is the major revenue model.
How to control Privacy Hack?
One of the easiest ways to get rid of the privacy hack is to delete a social media account. Be it the Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, if any of this medium is not making much difference to your life, then deleting your budget from these accounts is the best way.
However, this solution is not for everyone, especially for artists and business owners. If you belong to any of these groups, you cannot stay away for long from these platforms. However, it is vital to keep privacy in mind and not letting these platforms to share your details with the third party. Following specific methods of restricting your content-stealing will help in a more significant way:
Tips to protect privacy on the social media platform:
Avoid Clickbait
Clickbait is one of the ways you share your data to the platform. By clicking baits, you are revealing what you like to read on the platform. Avoid clicking random things like “check which celebrity has bought a new home” or “comment below to see the magic” These baits will capture your private information. Instagram and Facebook have loads of such posts, and you need to avoid clicking them.
Hiding Activity Status
On many social apps, your connections can see if you are active or offline. Many social apps, including hangout, allows you to hide your status activities. Similarly, Instagram has a feature allowing your activity status to be seen or hide by people following you. By hiding your activity, will also stop you from seeing their activities.
Disabling Read Receipts
Disabling your receipt will also help in protecting your privacy further. Read receipts are notifications letting your friends to know that you read their message. Twitter has a feature wherein you can disable read receipts in your direct messages.
Avoid Reading Fake News
There has been a huge stir over fake news on social media platforms recently, especially during the US elections. Facebook faced a lot of criticism on spreading fake news. There were many unverified articles on the newsfeed, especially the political ones. It is best to avoid clicking or sharing such links. Not everything you read on the Internet is true.
Turn off your location
When you download any app, you will be asked to allow sharing your location. This is now becoming the most common scenario and is one of the ways to steal your data. Moreover, Instagram and Facebook allow you to share your live location. This gives access to companies to present you with brands, landmarks and other things. You will be also asked to rate any restaurant nearby. Turning off your location sharing is the best way. This way you will avoid giving reviews to businesses and prevent Facebook Email and Phone Lookup.
Being selective on how you use your social media account and things you want to share will help in falling into the trap of data-stealing. The future of social media apps depends on how you as a user is kept and protect your privacy. However, it does not look to be in a good way. You as a user need to be conscious of what and what not to share.
If you have any inputs or tips of data privacy, do comment below
