People are increasingly aware of the dangers of social media, especially when it comes to the dissemination of their personal information. As a matter of fact, one study showed that 66% of current Facebook users questioned didn’t trust the site with their information. And they are right not to. Data is big business, and allows social networks to sell data to advertisers who will use it to send targeted campaigns catered to the users’ needs and desires. This form of advertising is seen by many as unethical at best, to downright criminal by others. However, there are some things we can all do to protect our personal data on social media. Here are a few of them.

Know What a Strong Password Looks Like and Use a Manager

Most people will use different social media platforms for different purposes. However, if your passwords are weak, and you have a habit of using the same password across many sites, not only will the hackers have less difficulty cracking it, but it will give them access to all these accounts.

So, make sure that you know what constitutes a good password and use a password manager. A strong password should have at least one upper and one lower case letter, a number, and a special symbol. You should make them as long as possible as well. Try to change passwords depending on the social media account, and change them every month.

Look at the Alternatives

Know that there are tons of alternatives out there outside of Facebook that allow pretty much the same functionalities but without the safety issues. Emenator, for instance, is a great social media platform that allows you to share stories and ideas with your friends, watch user generated content, create groups and events, and produce your own videos through their proprietary video interface. 

What’s great about it is that your information will never be sold to a third-party. The platform also operates on a completely ad-free model. Not only that, but they won’t use complex algorithms to decipher your interactions on the site in order to direct you towards certain types of content they assume you will like. This is a great option if you want a private and non-intrusive alternative to the big social media platforms out there.

Use a VPN

Another thing that has become more mainstream since the Facebook scandal are VPNs. VPN stands for virtual private networks, and they allow you to surf online in complete privacy. The VPN secures and encrypts all your communication by funnelling it through a secure tunnel that acts as an intermediary between you, the VPN, and the website.

All these options are great if you want to keep your data and personal information safe when you’re on social media. Not all of us have the luxury of being able to disconnect, so make sure that you consider these tips if you want to enjoy social media stress free.