Internet Safety: 10 Safety Tips for Twitter Users

Twitter’s Privacy Policy states that their services are not geared towards children under 13-years-old, but we all know kids and teenagers who are active Twitter users.  With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of 10 helpful safety tips that Twitter users (and their parents) should keep in mind.

1. Never divulge personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, school names, etc.  Most importantly, avoid using your real name as your username.
2. Choose a complicated password including both letters and numbers.  Make sure it is at least 6 characters long.
3. Modify your Twitter settings to make your feed private so strangers will not be able to view your tweets.
4. Avoid linking your Twitter account to your Facebook profile or your FourSquare account, etc.  To protect your privacy as much as possible, it’s best to cut down on account linking.
5. Stay away from posting private photographs, especially those that expose your exact location, like a photo in front of a school or another easily identifiable building.
6. Steer clear of Twitter’s geo-tagging feature which will give out your location to all of your followers.  Thankfully, this is a feature that must be turned “on” and is “off” as default.
7. Remember that anything you write on Twitter will become permanent, even if you delete your tweets.
8. Be aware that your tweets can be repackaged and forwarded to third-parties.
9. Use common sense.  Avoid complaining about your job, your coworkers, or your salary.  Also, do not post a link to your personal blog which does any of those things either.  Not only can this get you fired, but it may also affect your future and reputation.
10. Don’t threaten violence against anybody.  Mentioning how much you want to kill so and so or talking about any type of terrorist plot you may have will land you in one place: jail.