Easy Steps to Increase Social Network Privacy
How to Clear Cookies Set by Social Networks?
With the rise of the internet, it feels like the whole world is now connected. Especially with new conduits of communication with social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, you can post about your life events, talk to others on the other side of the globe and keep up with the latest affairs. No doubt, the world being more interconnected then ever has allowed for communication, business, and industry to advance at a rapid pace, developing the world along with it.
However, many people are concerned with their online privacy when using social media. Many people upload information on social media, and some of it can be personal. Since global internet access keeps increasing, the whole planet is a possible viewer of your media profile. You might think that only your family and friends are viewing your posts but what if others are viewing it without you knowing? Or what if companies are violating your privacy to take your data? Especially with adding in many high-profile security breaches of large tech companies and people’s data being leaked, you are right to be concerned about the privacy of your information on social media. Here, we will give you tips on improving your social media privacy, along with a guide to clear cookies set by social media networks. With these useful tips, you can be sure to maximize your online privacy!
How Your Privacy is Vulnerable Online
Firstly, let’s look at how you can be vulnerable online. Many people think that posting online pictures of themselves, or their livelihood events might not have a big impact on them or their privacy. But there is more to it then just posting pictures on the web. When you post anything on the internet, it is a good rule to act like it will be there forever, and everyone can see it. Malicious actors such as stalkers and blackmailers can stalk people’s profiles and use their content against the victim. Social media companies can mine data from their users, looking at what they upload and what they consume, and sell that data to mega-corporations and governments.
Another way your privacy can be violated is via cookies set by your social medias. For a more in-depth look on what cookies are, it is recommended you read our article specifically on the topic here: All About Internet Browser Cookies. But in short, cookies are small files of data that are saved to your computer by websites and social media. They contain data such as website preferences, login information and other data. For example, if you use Twitter, and you enjoy a green background, Twitter will save a cookie onto your computer with this preference, so when you come back and login your Twitter page will still be green. As you can see cookies assist in streamlining your internet session and can be very helpful. The concern lies with privacy. Companies can use cookies to track users online, their actions, their data and what they look at without the user knowing. Companies like Twitter can use cookies to track your activity, see what you like to consume, then show you advertisements that match your preferences, or track your data and sell it to companies. Cookies can be also used my malicious actors such as hackers and people who can breech into social media companies, and then can access your device via these cookies and steal your personal information.
Nevertheless, your privacy can be easily broken, and your personal information taken without you knowing even if it is for a harmless use. As people are concerned about their online privacy, many are becoming more vigilant in how they use their social media accounts. Since technology keeps changing, there is no defined set of procedures to keep your privacy 100% intact, it might be hard to find protection for yourself. However, we have some easy and simple steps you can take to dramatically increase your privacy online!
Easy Steps to Improve Social Media Privacy
There are multiple ways you can increase your privacy easily and quickly, without having to resort to extreme measures. And since security breaches and hacks are becoming more advanced and frequent, it should be a good time to develop a good procedure when you use the internet, to ensure you are safe and secure.
Control what you upload online
When it comes to social media, whether it be for personal communication, entertainment, or your employment, you might have uploaded a photo, video, or text online. Depending on the contents of what you posted, it could pose a security threat to you especially if it involves something personal to your or private information. Simply not posting anything online, or not posting anything containing personal information is the easiest way to protect yourself on social media. It’s a lot harder for criminals, employers, and stalkers to get hands on your data online when you have nothing uploaded, or minimal posts with little to no personal info on them.
Change your social media’s privacy settings
Whether you use Instagram, Twitter, or another platform, you might have some certain personal preferences changed to your liking via settings. Generally, most big platforms offer privacy settings that you can tweak. Make sure to take a comprehensive look at the privacy settings of the website you use to see if you want to be fully private, or if you are ok with giving some information to the company. And if you have time, it is recommended you read
Look at what Personal Information the Website Saves
When creating a new account, it can vary on what the website asks from company to company. Facebook is a more personal social media, so it usually asks for your full name, your date of birth and what your gender is. Other websites like Reddit simply ask for an email, and you don’t even need to verify your account. It comes down to what you want saved at a company and what you use. If you tend to like privacy more, try to avoid websites that ask for more private information then what you want to give up and share.
Easy Methods to Clear Online Cookies
Now to the cookies. As mentioned before, social media websites like to use cookies for various purposes. They use it to give a more personal atmosphere to your browsing session, to save your login information and to track you. But companies can use cookies to track you and save your personal information, and what you browse on the internet. If you value your online privacy, you might not want your social media to put cookies onto your device that will track you wherever you go on the internet, even when you leave the website.
A simple way to clear your cookies that have been set by your social media is via your web browser settings. Depending on the browser, you will usually access the settings in the top right corner and clicking on a 3 bar or a 3-dot icon. Here, you can navigate to the ‘clear search history’ button and should be universal across all platforms. When you are here, you will find a setting to ‘clear browser cookies.’ This will delete all your browser’s cookies, including the one’s set by the social media but beware that for websites where you saved your login information, you will lose it. This is a simple way to clear your cookies, but there lies an easier solution then to try and clear your cookies every day.
Another great, more practical way to clear cookies off your computer is with an effective computer cleaner. A capable one, like System Mechanic can effectively scan your computer for all cookies installed on your hard drive and delete all of them with only a few clicks of your mouse. You can do this whenever you want to, on a daily or weekly basis. Or, you can let the software do it automatically. System Mechanic will find and delete all your browser cookies by itself, without you having to try and find certain settings in your web browser or must manually find the cookies on your hard drive. With System Mechanic, you can easily stop websites and social media companies from tracking you and what you look at when browsing online!
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Learn more about cookies, read our All About Computer Cookies article.
