Protecting Your Identity in the “Social Media Age”

Social Media isn’t the “next big thing” – it’s here now. Everyone from college students to businesses to little old grandmothers are signing on to web sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It has never been easier to connect with friends, relatives, and colleagues than it is now.

Unfortunately, that type of networking ability can come with a price. Identity theft is nothing new - from stealing credit card numbers to generating fake IDs, criminals have been finding new and creative ways to make a buck at someone else’s expense. Social media outlets are proving to be a major new source of data that identity thieves can – and do – use.

It is frightening to consider the amount of personal data that can be acquired by anyone with access to a computer. There is even a website out there now called spokeo.com that gathers all of the available information about someone together in one convenient place! Go to their site and type your name in...it will tell you your address, marital status, occupation, household income, number of people in the family, and even your home value. Where does it get this data? You guessed it – your social media pages. Facebook accounts offer the ability for a user to add almost any kind of personal data imaginable to their profile. This information is then subject to identity theft.

So how can you manage your online identity and prevent your social media outlets from turning into a source of data for thieves? Here are five tips that you can use to keep your online identity safe:

1. Whenever possible, do not put any more information than you have to out there. This seems so simple, yet no one thinks twice about filling out the form completely when they register. If the data isn’t there, it can’t be mined.

2. Sign up for Google Alerts. This free service will notify you any time your name pops up online and you can head off potential problems before they grow out of control.

3. Reserve your name on all the major networking sites. This may seem like a strange idea at first glance, but if you have taken your name, no one else can. Just avoid putting in all of your data (see #1) – especially if it is a site you don’t plan to visit often.

4. Make sure you have security software on your computer. Public sites are perfect breeding grounds for spyware or viruses that can attack your machine and get personal data, even if it is not published on the internet.


5. Limit your contacts on social media sites to people that you actually know. Fake profiles are a good way for thieves to bypass the privacy settings on most sites and allow them access to even your private profile data.
While there is no way to guarantee that you will not be a victim of identity theft, following these five guidelines will at least help keep social media sites what they were intended to be – fun.