#1 Use great passwords
A good password uses a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. An example of a great password: Ke4%rdSs
#2 Nobody’s home…
Never mention that you will be away from home. Always be very vague about the date of any trip, or better yet – wait until you get back to tell everyone all about it.
#3 Don’t post your full birthday
The exact year month and day of your birthday could be a target for identity thieves. It is possible they could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you must post your birthday – Use only the month and day.
#4 Privacy controls
Use privacy controls to limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information. Of course it’s always a good idea to leave political and religious views off your Facebook page anyway – especially if your employer or potential clients may see it.
Be careful what contact info you post – and never use your address. If you have small children – never use their names in photo tags or captions!
#5 Everything you do and say, is on the internet to stay!
It is always best to not put anything on Facebook (or the internet for that matter) that you wouldn’t want your mother, employer, or a client see. In our “reality T.V.” world too many people feel the need to tell everybody all about themselves. Just remember – anything you put on the web is there forever! No matter how careful you are – sooner or later someone is going to see those embarrassing photos of you, and it’s always the last person you would ever want to see them!
A little bit of common sense goes a long way.
