Social Media Privacy Settings: How to Make Your Social Media Account Private

Wondering how to keep your social media accounts safe? One of the fastest and easiest ways to ensure your privacy is to adjust your settings and only allow friends to view your account. Join us and learn how, why, and if you should change your social media privacy settings to protect your accounts, images, and your data.

Why Should You Adjust Your Social Media Privacy Settings?

Making your accounts private allows you to control who sees your personal information. Consider how much you share on social media and whether you are okay with the public viewing that information.

Benefits of a Private Account

If you frequently share where you are, images of your home/car/family, or have had your images stolen and used by catfish, you may want to consider switching to a private account. Other people switch between private and public accounts when they feel the need for more privacy (for example, after a breakup or a bad online experience).

Benefits of a Public Account

Many people keep their accounts open as they want social platforms to be just that… social! While that makes sense, you have to determine your individual privacy risks. If you are promoting a product, brand, or hoping to reach influencer status… then a public account may better fit your needs!

How to Make Your Social Media Account Settings Private

This is how you can make your account private on the top social media platforms!

 Facebook:

1. Go to Facebook and create or log into your account.
   
2. Select the “down” arrow in the upper right-hand side of your desktop browser. If you access Facebook through your smartphone’s app, select the 3 horizontal lines in the upper-right part of the screen.
3. Next, select “Settings > Privacy” (if on your phone) or “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings”> “Privacy” (if on a computer).
4. Edit your privacy settings per past posts, future posts, or by section.

Instagram:

1. Create an account and/or log in to your Instagram account.
2. Select the “home button” and then tap the circular icon at the bottom right of the app.
3. Next, select the top 3 horizontal lines at the top of the screen.
4. Select “Settings”.
5. Select “Privacy”.
6. To make your account private select the “Private Account” tab.

Twitter:

1. Create an account and/or log in to your Twitter account.
2. Select the horizontal 3 dot icon.
3. Select “Settings and Privacy”.
4. Review “Account Information”.
5. Scroll down to “Protected Tweets” and, to protect your privacy, you will be prompted to update your “Protect My Tweets” status.

Social Catfish is Here to Help You!

How safe do you feel when you are online? Consider whether or not you’re comfortable with strangers viewing your content and make your privacy decisions based on that. To find out whether or not someone may be using your social media photographs to catfish or trick others, complete a reverse image search with Social Catfish.