The use of social media tools is increasing day by day. As one of the popular social networks Twitter celebrates its 15th anniversary, cyber security organization ESET shared seven suggestions on how to protect users' privacy and security on the platform.
During the pandemic process, we use Twitter to keep track of all kinds of information and messages, from world affairs to sports results and even new developments in our fight against COVID-19. As with other social media patterns, Twitter also involves various risks, such as online trolls and cyberbullying. ESET experts shared the steps that users can take to prevent their accounts from being hacked on Twitter, which is 15 years old, and to stay safe while they Tweet.
Secure your account
It's always best to start with the basics like improving the security of your account. For starters, make sure to avoid the most common mistakes when creating your passphrase or password. Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) in the security and account access section of your account settings. In case 2FA is not available, you can use one-time backup codes or choose to use a one-time password (OTP). By enabling these options, you can prevent your Twitter account from being hacked.
The way to protect your tweets
You can protect your tweets with a feature that you can enable in privacy and security settings. If you do, only your followers can view your tweets. With this process, it means that your protected tweets can only be viewed and interacted by accounts that follow you (unless you block them). Meanwhile, new followers who likewise want to see and interact with your tweets will need to get your consent by sending you a follow request.
Pay attention to your location information
If you have your location information enabled, Twitter allows you to add this information to your tweets selectively. The explanation for this feature is: “You allow Twitter to collect, store and use your precise location such as GPS information”. Stating this is proof that too much information sharing like this can be dangerous. Be careful about this as you will never know who is stalking you. You can disable this feature in the privacy and security section or Tweets.
Pay attention to the labeling feature
Twitter also allows users to tag each other in photos. This feature is turned on by default and can be turned off in privacy and security settings. This option lets you choose whether everyone can tag you or be limited to people you follow only. However, you cannot be sure how people will see the photos, where they will navigate, and what metadata they contain. Therefore, it would be safest to disable photo tagging.
Muting and blocking
This menu offers many features including an overview of the accounts you have blocked or closed, as well as muted words and notifications. Blocking accounts is pretty self-explanatory; Meanwhile, muting is a little less drastic and allows you to remove an account's tweets from your timeline without blocking or unfollowing them. The option to mute words can be used to prevent content you don't want to see in your feed. Once enabled, tweets containing these words will not appear in your notifications, texts or timeline. You can also disable notifications based on various filters, such as people you don't follow or who haven't approved their emails.
Limit who can contact you
The direct messages setting allows you to filter who can contact you. This is a necessary feature, as social media trolls like to pop up out of nowhere and fill their inboxes with hateful or weird messages. In addition to managing who can send you direct messages, you also have the option to turn on a spam filter that hides messages with typical signs of spam.
Who can see me?
The discoverability menu lets you decide how users can call you on Twitter (using your email or phone number). On the one hand, it enables people to find you more easily on the platform; On the other hand, it is not very privacy oriented, because if your email or phone number is around too much, then even completely strangers can find you. So, if you are passionate about privacy, disabling these options would be a good move for you.
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