Tips for Social Networking at Christmas

Privacy issues associated with social networking sites are rife.  We have all heard horror stories of sharing content unwittingly with people we perhaps didn’t intend to.  This is made all too easy with the increased use of smart phones to update your status, tweet or ‘check in’ when you’re out and about on a night out.   So over the Christmas season, when alcohol may be flowing more freely than usual, we wanted to give you a little present in the form of our top five tips when using social networking over the festive period…you can thank us later.

1.   Christmas party etiquette

Don’t: Get drunk at your work Christmas party and update your status to something along the lines of ‘This is the worst party I have ever been to in my life.  Adam from accounts is so dull.’ Note – you accepted Adam’s friend request two months ago and he can now see exactly what you (drunkenly) think of him. 

Do: Check your privacy settings.  Whilst many people are aware that you can set privacy settings to ‘friends only’ or ‘public’, there are further options to select exactly who and who can’t see your updates within your ‘friend’ list.  To do this:

• click on the arrow on the ‘Friends’ tab at the bottom right hand side of the status update text box
• choose the ‘Custom’ option
• within this section make certain updates visible to certain people and at the same time hide from others.

This is only possible on the desktop version of the site.  To control who can see what content using your mobile, you will need to create a separate list for work, friends and family.

2.  Sofa surfing

Don’t: Call in sick for work the day after the Christmas party and tweet the next day that you’re having a great time relaxing at home watching Jeremy Kyle.  Note – you have linked up your Twitter account with Linkedin and your boss can now see your tweet in the Tweet feed section.

Do:  Be aware of which of your social networking accounts you have linked up, or better still don’t do it at all.  The lines between what is personal and what is work can be easily blurred when linking up accounts though it seemed like a great idea at the time! 

3.   Family politics

Don’t: Tell your mother-in-law that you’d love to make the Christmas meal she is spending a lot of time preparing at her home in London but you’ll be working in France over the holidays.  Note – you have just updated your status saying ‘What a lovely restaurant I’m in – great food!’.  Nothing wrong with that you say?  Probably not, if attached to the message it didn’t state ‘near Covent Garden, London’.

Do:  Remember to turn off either your ‘Tweet location’ or geo-location options on Facebook, if you’re prone to telling the odd white lie here and there (who hasn’t).  You can do this by hovering over the location outlined at the bottom left hand side of the status update box on Facebook and clicking on the cross to remove.  On Twitter this can be done by unchecking the Tweet Location box within the Settings section.  Remember that friends can also ‘check you in’ to places.  These settings can be altered within ‘How Tags Work’ in the Privacy Settings section.

4. Mistaken identity

Don’t: Mistake the rules of Twitter and Facebook.  For people to see my Tweets I need to accept them as ‘friends’ or approve them don’t I?   The simple answer is, no.  By default, all the tweets you send out are public.  On this note, be sure not to be quite so honest and tweet about the sweater your friend got you that you ‘wouldn’t let your dog wear’.  Unless you keep a very close view on your Twitter ‘followers’, the logic “she’s not my ‘follower’ on Twitter” doesn’t mean all that much.

Do:  Check the ‘Protect my Tweets’ box to make sure you have full control over who can see your posts within the Settings section of Twitter.  In the Notifications section of Settings, you can also check a box under the Activity heading to make sure you receive an email when someone new ‘follows’ you.

5.     The camera never lies

Don’t: Get caught out in an embarrassing photograph sitting on Santa’s knee or bleary-eyed after a few too many glasses of mulled wine.  ‘De-tag’ is an expression that has entered the vocabulary of many Facebook users in recent years, but often removing any photos (or evidence as some may call it) from your profile is only done after a large number of your ‘friends’ have already had a chance to see them.

Do: Make use of the ‘How tags work’ options within the Privacy Settings section.  Switching the setting to from the default setting to ‘on’, you can sleep soundly on Christmas eve knowing that any photos you are tagged in need to be approved by you first.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and that some of these tips will be useful or help avoid any potentially embarrassing situations during the festive period.  And in spring, summer, autumn…