The Best Ways of Managing Your Social Media Footprint

Social media privacy is a legitimate concern but so many people forget about it. Is your social network behavior 100 percent safe? Can you show your profiles to potential employers without feeling embarrassed? Controlling your social media footprint will be determining for your safety. You better start tracking your digital footprint today!

What is a Social Media Footprint?
Social media footprint or digital footprint is all of the data that is left after your uploads and interactions with other people online. The digital footprint can severely compromise your social media privacy.

A social media footprint traditionally consists of:

• Uploaded photos
• Uploaded videos
• Public profile information
• Discussion group and community participation
• Blog posts and social network notes
• Social network profile information

The digital footprint can be either positive or negative, depending on the information that you upload and the manner in which you adjust social media privacy settings. Being in control is crucially important. There are certain things you should be doing in terms of decreasing the amount of publicly available information about yourself.

Google Yourself
To assess your online privacy, perform a simple Google search of your name. You will quickly gain access to the most prominent parts of the digital footprint.

See what the world is capable of finding out about you. If you come across embarrassing pieces of information from your college years, you will have some work to do.

Adjust Public Information Settings
For a start, adjust the public information settings in all of your social networking profiles. Figure out which bits of information you want to keep personal and which ones you are willing to share with the world. Installing a social networking app that manages your posts and updates is an easy and efficient method of controlling data sharing.

Go Through Your Friends List
Your list of friends is another cause of concern. Many people add social media “friends” without knowing these people in real life. Giving such individuals access to your personal information is really risky. They could be stalkers or they could use the information to harm you. Go through your friend list every now and then and remove the names of people who should not be there.

Remove Inappropriate Old Posts
Deleting all embarrassing old posts is going to be time-consuming but the step is essential for the creation of a positive digital footprint.

Many people start using social networks during their teenage years. At this time, social media privacy is far from the main priority. As you grow older, your online behavior will change. This is when you will have to start dealing with the mistakes you made in the past.

You should have full control over your digital footprint. Though editing is a cumbersome task, it can bring you numerous benefits. Think about the kind of image you want to create for yourself and begin building this kind of footprint today.

The Main Internet Privacy Concerns of the Future

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Social media privacy has been discussed extensively over the past few years because of the numerous loopholes that leave members unprotected. Many technology experts worry that the future will bring new and more difficult to handle online privacy issues.

The popularity of mobile devices is growing all the time, which may affect mobile internet privacy in new ways. Smartphones and tablets enable users to access all of their social networks through a single profile and to perform multiple operations using open wireless networks and connections that have questionable security.

Mobile internet usage can compromise social media privacy seriously. Accessing numerous websites from the same account can easily lead to identity theft or unauthorized access to at least some kinds of important personal information.

As many companies are offering free services online, the level of customer privacy is also decreasing. Search engines, online stores and social networks will all have to discover the balance between using customer data for their needs and providing clients with a respectful, high-level service.

Social media privacy will continue growing as a concern because of this provision of free services, as well as the inclusion of numerous third-party applications in the social networking package.

Personalization and geotagging are two other concerns that will keep on growing in importance.

Many websites collect personal information from visitors and members, in order to provide customized content that corresponds to the user’s requirements. Google has also jumped on the bandwagon, making search engine results more personalized and dependent on user input than ever before.

Though such options provide convenience, people start wondering how much of their personal information is reaching third parties and how it is being put to use. The concerns are legitimate and online companies are yet to provide detailed answers about the manner in which they are maintaining user privacy.

Geotagging is a hot trend that is related both to smartphone usage and social media privacy.

Geotagging enables applications to identify the location of the user’s smartphone on the basis of GPS coordinates. This information is once again used to provide geographically relevant content. Many photo applications come with geotagging that automatically adds coordinates to every picture that is being taken.

It turns out that websites and third parties are getting information not only about the preferences of users but they also have a very accurate idea about the location of each person.

Finding the balance is going to remain a challenge. Social networks provide a lot of convenience but the security risks are growing all the time. Finding the right kind of privacy app is one viable solution but being aware of privacy policies and how information is being used will deliver much better results in the long-term.

Private vs. Public Social Networks – What Makes Them Different?

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A private social network is an interesting new development that is providing users with better control opportunities. Traditional social networks have been blamed several times for jeopardizing the online privacy of their members. This is how the private social network came into existence.

A public social networking website is open for membership to everybody. Though the members have some control over the privacy settings, there is still a lot of personal information that remains available for public viewing.

Even if a privacy social media app gets installed, there is still no guarantee that sensitive data is 100 percent protected. A number of social networks have been blamed for leaking user information to advertisers and other third parties without getting the consent of members.

All of these characteristics and developments have decreased the popularity of the open social network, especially among people who are trying to establish a certain online image for themselves. Lacking full control over content leads to problems, especially if people are interested in creating a highly professional image and who use social media apps for business purposes.

The private social network is a wonderful alternative to the traditional websites.

A private social network is a limited access community. Only a small group of people get the right to join and these people have full control over content and the information that they share with others.

Needless to say, a private social network enables higher level of control and customization. Personal information is protected and the social network is used solely for a particular purpose – communication with coworkers, the exchange of ideas or the practice of a hobby or a particular interest.

Many companies are relying on private social networks for business communication. The volume of content in this kind of social network is much smaller and it is strictly specialized. There is no risk of having personal photos leaked to the entire world simply because the purpose of the private social network is very different.

The one problem that comes with private social media is higher fees. Such communities are typically costlier to develop or there could be a membership fee that everybody has to pay. The higher level of security, however, makes the investment worth it for the majority of the members.

When choosing a social network, a person will first have to define objectives. If social networking is casual and used as a method of communicating with the world and getting to know new people, the open social network is a good selection.

If privacy and specialized communication are of key importance, the private social network is a better selection. It gives full control over content, specialization and communication with a selected pool of members.

The social networking market is becoming truly diversified to address the needs of all users. Private social networking is a hot new trend that is here to stay and to keep growing.

Safe Social Networking: The Role of Apps

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Whether you are using social networks for fun or for business, applications can make your life a whole lot easier. Choosing the right social media app for your needs will enhance the networking experience and diminish privacy risks.

There are several simple steps to follow, when choosing the right social networking app.

Customize Permissions

Most social media apps come with standard permissions. Upon installing those, you enable the social media app to access your personal information and to even post messages and status updates on your behalf.
Customizing these permissions is the first step towards safe social media usage. Limit the amount of personal information that applications have access to. An app should also be disabled from performing any operation without demanding your permission in advance.

Related Post: Ensuring The Social Media Privacy of Your Children

Install a Good Privacy Social Media App

A good privacy application is worth adding to your profile.

Numerous tools have been developed to protect your personal information and to decrease the risk of identity theft or carelessly sharing important personal data. Some applications control the text that you upload, others limit the number of people who see your posts.

Look through the possibilities and find a reputable privacy app that you can trust and that will keep all of your sensitive data private.

Related Post: How To Safeguard Your Online Privacy

Remove All Apps You are no Longer Using

Many people will install one social media app or another and forget about it soon after.

It is important to have some ideas about the applications you have added to your profile. Despite the fact you are not using everything, these old applications still have full access to your social networking profile.
To increase your privacy, remove all of the applications that you are no longer using. All social networks give you easy access to the tools installed in your profile, allowing you to edit their permissions or to remove the apps altogether.

Related Post: Understanding The Concept of Online Privacy

Get Only the Apps that You Need

Are you a person who carelessly install apps just because friends have those or because you have gotten a request? This kind of behavior is risky and it may lead to certain security problems in the future.

Think carefully before installing anything and giving it permission to view your personal information. Choose solely applications that have been developed by reputable companies and whose origin can be verified.
Many entertainment, quiz and game apps are simply created to collect personal information and to give companies access to such data. Do you want to have this kind of tool added to your profile? Being a bit more selective will certainly pay off.


The social networking app is an important part of the experience but it also poses some dangers. Educate yourself and learn how to choose safe and efficient applications. Picking the best tools will demand some research but doing your homework in advance will keep all of your sensitive information protected.