Here’s a couple of simple steps to connect safely and navigate the social media world. Set the privacy and security settings to your comfort level for information sharing. Disable geotagging, which allows anyone to see where you are—and where you aren’t—at any given time.

Impersonating U.S. soldiers is a common scam tactic on Facebook. Someone will pretend to be a service member and then ask for escalating payments to help tend to an injury or other invented pretext. As a rule of thumb, don’t pay anyone on Facebook unless you know them.

With every social media account you sign up for, every picture you post, and status you update, you are sharing information about yourself with the world. Share with care, because even if you delete a post or picture from your profile seconds after posting it, chances are someone still saw it.

It’s prudent to review your social media accounts every now and then to see if you’ve left any photos, videos, or textual updates on them that might reveal sensitive details about your identity or location. Delete such posts or at least hide them from public viewing to minimize exposure.

Facebook and Twitter have an ever-changing collection of settings you can fine-tune for better security and privacy. Don’t just use the defaults – instead look through the selections to find the ones that limit who can see your data and reduce your overall exposure. A good example is Twitter’s ability to mute specific accounts and […]

Social networking sites, sometimes referred to as “friend-of-a-friend” sites, build upon the concept of traditional social networks where you are connected to new people through people you already know. The purpose of some networking sites may be purely social, allowing users to establish friendships or romantic relationships, while others may focus on establishing business connections.