When you get a friend request on Facebook or any other social network, you probably react like the vast majority of us. You look at the name and image to see if you recognized the person sending the request. If you recognize them, you confirm the friendship and never think twice about the fact that you just granted complete accessâ€"your posts, pictures, and other "private" dataâ€"to someone who may not really be who you think they are.
Between free Internet email services and the wealth of publicly available images and information about anyone who uses social media, it is shockingly easy to create what looks just like a legitimate social profile on just about any site out there.
Why does this all matter? Three words: Social Identity Theft
What is Social Identity Theft?
If someone is masquerading as you on social media sites, they can gain access to your friends who, believing the social profile they see to be legit, may share compromising information about themselves or you with the impostor.
Think about it this way: you wouldn't share your travel plans publicly online. However, a well-meaning friend could ask you about or wish you luck on an upcoming vacation though a social media site. If the "you" they are communicating with is an impostor, the real you may come home to a burglarized or vandalized house. I know this may seem far-fetched, but it's just one example of what can happen. You'd be surprised just how easy it is to find home addresses through Google.
The Easy Way to Combat Social Identity Theft
Just like any of the other digital monsters under the bedâ€"viruses, hackers, data corruption, and the likeâ€"there's no 100% effective way to prevent social identity theft. There is, however, a relatively simple way to make yourself a less appealing targetâ€"cybersquat as much social real estate as possible.
I know this goes against the less-is-more doctrine many social networking experts preach. Instead of creating social profiles on only the sites you plan to visit frequently and become an active part of, I advocate creating profiles on as many social media sites as you can. By creating profiles with your name and image, you give anyone interested in nefariously using your name fewer potential points of contact with your network of friends. Fewer points of contact mean more work for them and can be all it takes to send them looking elsewhere.
The Added Benefit of Many Social Profiles
This approach can also help your personal branding efforts down the road. If you build social profiles now on sites you are only marginally interested in, you ensure your name is not taken if and when you do become interested or these sites become hot. This is especially important when it comes to profiles that offer personalized URLs. By claiming your personalized URL before anyone else with the same name, you give yourself the best chance of ranking well in Google should you ever decide your cybersquatted profiles need to be part of your online personal branding platform.
So, what are you waiting for? Whether you're trying to protect your identity or lay the groundwork for the ultimate online personal brand, you need to build some social profiles. Why not get started today?
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