Travel Plans
Think twice before bragging about your amazing upcoming vacation or posting pictures while on a trip.
You never know who could see this information and use it for nefarious purposes.
As a safer alternative, don’t share any details or pictures about your trip until after you return.
This extends to posting photos of your home.
This caution also extends to your physical address or phone numbers.
These types of questions are often used as security questions to protect your online accounts.
Personal Complaints and Rants
Social media is not the place to air your grievances.
Someone will likely see it and let the person know, resulting in a messy situation.
Do yourself a favor and don’t make posts that make you look like a terrible person.
You should still be courteous in these situations, though.
It’s unlikely that you’ll see any truly heinous crimes admitted to on Facebook or Twitter.
Some even share photos of their drug stashes, illegal firearms, or cash that they’ve stolen.
This also applies to explicit photos of yourselfit’s a terrible idea to post those on any social platform.
Do everyone (including yourself) a favor by never posting anything like that on social media.
Expensive New Purchases
Many people love to share pictures of their new “toys” on social media.
An extreme case would be announcing that you won the lottery.
Personal Advice
We’ve all seen people ask for homesickness remedies or legal advice on social media.
This is true even if you’re a doctor or lawyer.
The key point is that you simply don’t (and can’t) know all the facts.
If someone is sick or in trouble, they should seek professional help.
You’re not going to get the whole picture from a social post.
Even more importantly, some of these so-calledsocial media contests are actually scams in disguise.
You could unknowingly spread malware or trick people into giving away sensitive data.
Privileged Inside Information
It’s an easy mistake to accidentally post private information on a public channel.
However, you should be careful about exposing insider information on social media.
If you’re aware of protected details at your job, don’t share those anywhere, especially online.
If it’s not your own news, don’t share it.
On the internet, once something has been published, it’s pretty much impossible to remove it completely.
Sharing information online voluntarily lessens your privacy and can open you up to attacks on your security, too.
It’s wise to be intentional about what you share.
