Learning what to share in social networks: never shares important information

I have been writting about data for several posts in a row: you generate more than you think, and the data leaks of 2021, but today it is time to talk about what is shared on the Internet. My advice: never share what is important, that is, sensitive or personal information.

The origin of this post is this news, where by sharing a bet in a WhatsApp group has ended with a money theft (and the thief caught, of course!).

We share too much

A few weeks ago, one of the WhatsApp stories on my phone, I saw a picture of two people showing tickets to a concert, and the QR code was clearly visible. I was a little “flipping”, because I thought …. anyone takes the QR and already has tickets for a concert … for the face!

And just today, I come across this news: the kid who shares a winning bet, and that “photo” reaches a third party, who without knowing the winner, ends up collecting the prize, although, as everything was well registered, he ended up locating the supplanter.

I don’t know the method used, but if you just print the photo and keep the barcode or QR identifier in a safe place, everything else goes smoothly.

Avoid what it is important

But … what is important? In my opinion, important is everything that can identify something that should be personal. In the two examples I have discussed in this post, both the entry and the bet with their unique identifiers.

I always tell my kids that anything that is shared on the Internet is likely to appear in a big screen in the middle of the town square, visible to everyone, even if …. I only sent it to my best friend! Because, when something is shared on the Internet, it is multiplied in a matter of seconds, and the most important thing: you lose control over what you do with it..

And with sensitive information, it is very important to avoid sharing it, to avoid “problems”, because you never know what people do with the information, especially if it belongs to others.

Therefore, avoid sharing more than you should, do it with head because you never know what can happen with what you upload to the Internet.