General2.06.2010

Six Safety Tips for Facebook

Thinking About Quitting Your Social Network? Read This First – Six Tips Every User Should Know

Norton Internet Safety Experts Share Quick and Easy Tips to Maximize Your Online Privacy

Facebook has been under fire for the changes made to its privacy model last month, yet despite the latest privacy and control settings announced this week by Mark Zuckerberg, some groups are rallying users to boycott or even delete their profiles on Facebook on May 31 and June 6 in protest. For those who are not ready to completely delete their profile or are perhaps too emotionally invested in their account, there are less extreme options to consider.

Norton’s Lead  Cyber Security Advisor Adam Palmer and Norton privacy experts are on hand to share tips with users on how to better protect  their private information on social networking sites, including:

1. Never share your password with anyone – Not even your best friend or significant other
2. Watch the digital crumbs you leave behind – Remember:  your photos, videos, comments live forever on the Web.  Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your grandma or future employer to see.  Also never post sensitive info, such as your phone number, e-mail or birthday.  And there’s no need to share everything in your status updates (e.g. “Off to Vegas for the holiday weekend!”)
3. Ignore the “Check Out the Best Beach Bods” link from your “friend” – It likely came from a hacker who broke into their account
4. Make sure links posted to your page are safe – Use smart Facebook applications like Norton Safe Web for Facebook to run a scan for poisonous links posted on your wall
5. Limit your “Circle of Trust” – If you are using social networking sites to connect with family and friends, ignore requests from people you do not know – it could be a cybercriminal
6. Stay informed of Facebook’s privacy settings and changes to it

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