Social Media Stranger Danger: What do You Share?

This post was written by Kelley Crowe, originally published on her own blog, The Best Crowe’s Nest. Kelley is a SAHM and blogger to two kids. This post is about her Social Media Stranger Danger experience and what she learned.

Social media is a huge part of most peoples lives these days. With smart phones, tablets, laptops, and iPods, technology makes social media so easy. But, as a parent, do you realize how harmful that little upload button Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram really can be?

When I got a notification that some guy liked a picture on my blog’s Facebook page, my first instinct was – AWESOME! Hey! I got a “like!” Liking pictures is a good way to show your support for pages and your friends. My excitement quickly changed when I saw some random guy I didn’t know not only liked an ultrasound photo of my daughter from when I was pregnant (from three years ago I might add) but a Christmas photo of both kids from two Christmases ago, too. I quickly put my mama bear defensive glasses on and got curious.

What I found:

1. I didn’t know this guy at all.
2. Not only did he “like” my blog’s page, but several of my friends photography businesses, mommy blogger fan pages, and even the 3D ultrasound business who performed the ultrasound he liked among HUNDREDS of other mom blogger and other parenting sites.
3. This guy showed no signs on his page of being a parent himself and even looks a little creepy in his picture.
4. ALL of his wall is filled with photos he’s sharing of other young kids with captions such as “She is so beautiful” or “I love his smile” and even “Amusing photo!” on pictures of young children potty training (linking back to mommy blogger potty training posts), and even in the bathtub.

What did I do? I immediately banned him from my fan page and got to work contacting every single mom blogger shown on his likes and on his wall along with photographers. Not only did I ban him from my page, but I reported him to Facebook too and opted out of blocking him so I could keep an eye on his Facebook profile to be sure my kids don’t show up there. It took everything out of me to not just deactivate my personal FB account and business pages instantly out of pure fear when I first saw this.

I’m sure Facebook has to be strict about the cases they take on and the people they ban. I’m sure they get requests and complaints like this on a daily basis. But, as a mom, there are a million things that have gone through my head once realizing this happened, “What if this guy was local and watching our kids?” “What if he had posted pictures of my kids on his wall, what could I do then?” I know Social Media and the Internet in general is a scary world and I firmly believe, if you put something out there, you are handing it to whoever wants to take it, BUT I think social media needs to make setting and maintaining privacy easier.

I have worked to prevent scary situations like this. Ever since this happened, I share a lot less on my blog’s Facebook page when it comes to my kids. I want to protect them and keep them as close as I possibly can and away from scary eyes.

Sometimes it’s SO HARD TO DO. I can’t count how many times I have had to go back in and reset all of my settings, because they did an update and everything wasn’t private anymore. It’s not even possible to keep newly updated profile pictures or cover photos from being clicked on. Even though my photos are all set to “Friends Only,” people who aren’t my friends can still click and scroll through all of my cover photos.

What if I DO want to share pictures with friends and tag them? Then ALL of their friends who I might not even know can see them, comment, share, like. What I want to know is, WHY!? Doesn’t our privacy and opportunity to control who sees OUR content count for anything? I would rather pay for a service such as Facebook than have lack of control over my life on it.

Why is it so difficult to protect ourselves from creepy people like this guy? As a parent, it’s important to be in the know. Be aware of who can see your profile and stay on top of it. Do you know how to blog or ban someone if you have to?

Facebook is just one example, but the one most of us use.  Here’s a helpful tip:

HOW TO BLOCK/BAN SOMEONE ON FACEBOOK

• To block a person (this means you won’t see them showing up anywhere on Facebook and vice versa.) You won’t be able to send or receive messages from the person, look at their profile, nothing. To do this, just click their profile and click on the little star symbol to the top right. Click block/report and then choose your option.

• To ban a person from a fan page. This can get a little tricky if you have a lot of fans (luckily for me, this guy had JUST liked my page so he was on top) You have to click to see all of your likes. Click “Show” in the top right corner of your page. Then the box in the bottom left where it says “Get More Likes”, click “See Likes.” Scroll until you see the person you want to ban and click the “x” next to their name and click to Ban Permanently.

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Kelley is the founder of The Best Crowe’s Nest (recently rebranded from Forever’s Like a Dream.) Born and raised in New England, she now resides in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC with her husband Kyle, two cuties Landyn & Lavery, and their dogs Brady & Daisy. Learn more at TheBestCrowesNest.com and join her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!