The only way to not know about Facebook and the services it offers is if you live under a rock. Chances are, you probably are very much aware of how Facebook took the world by storm when it came out and continues to grow and expand with its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook is a social network that acted as a pioneer in the move towards social media for much of the interaction that occurs between humans nowadays. Slowly but surely, the website or app, grew into something much more than simply a mean to communicate and stay in touch with loved ones.
Now, as the significance of social networks increases and more and more people use them, Facebook has become a powerful tool that is used by companies and firms to progress and constantly change for the better. Sadly, like with most other things, there are risks involved with using Facebook. If you don’t want your Facebook account to be overtaken by hackers, you must take certain measures for security.
How to Secure Your Facebook Account
The people at Facebook and all the Facebook users recognize how harmful it can be to have your account hacked. Therefore, numerous ways have been provided to keep hackers at bay and to make sure that you can use your Facebook account without having to worry about it.
Have a Strong Password
This makes it to the top of the list because the first thing that you can do (and really should) to make sure no one other than you can access your account is having a password that others cannot guess.
Let’s put some obvious stuff out of the way first. Some people think that it’s a clever idea to have your password be ‘password’; it’s not. Don’t do that, ever.
Also, ensure that your password isn’t something that others can find on your profile or other places. This means that your password shouldn’t be your e-mail address, your phone number, your birthday and just for added security, don’t make it the birthday of someone super close to you either who everyone knows about.
So, what should you use as your password? Here are a few key things to keep in mind:
- It needs to be long. Longer passwords are always more secure than shorter ones.
- Throw in both upper and lowercase characters.
- Use symbols.
- Don’t use the same password anywhere else.
Some people use the same passwords for different accounts because it is easier to remember one password than remembering several. This is certainly convenient, but you shouldn’t risk the security of your personal information for the sake of convenience.
Make Use of Facebook’s Security Features
Facebook takes your security seriously and gives you different options that you can utilize that can help further protect your account. One of these features is login alerts. Pay attention to when Facebook notifies you that your account has been logged into from another device. If you don’t recall logging in yourself using a different device or asking a trusted friend to do so, take action immediately and change your password to something completely different and something that is much stronger. It’s key to not be forgetful here and forget that you did in fact log in from some other device earlier during the day. Otherwise, you’ll just end up scaring yourself all the time.
The second feature that is really useful for securing your account is two-factor authentication. Using two factor authentication adds a second layer of security to your account and requires the user to present two pieces of evidence (as opposed to just a password) to log in.
Don’t Give Access to Too Many Apps
Facebook can be linked with other apps as well. Apps that you download often ask for permission to become linked to your Facebook account.
If it’s a game that you’ve downloaded, granting it access may allow the game to give you the option to play with your friends on Facebook who already play the game or invite friends that you’d like to play. This helps the app because you’re probably going to use it more if you enjoy playing it with your friends and it’ll be convenient for you too. However, not all apps can be trusted and giving some of them access to you Facebook account can, simply put, be disastrous.
Take some time out to check which apps you have linked to your Facebook account and be sure to remove permissions for apps that you no longer use or apps that seem fishy to you.
Conclusion
Facebook and social networks of the like have made our life easier. Not only does Facebook allow one to become closer with their friends and family or stay in touch with them when calling them seems to be too much of a hassle, but it also gives businesses and companies various opportunities to expand.
Businesses can use Facebook and make pages and groups to reach a wider audience. They can also interact with their current, past and potential customers and take the company in a direction that they want to make it more profitable.
People can use Facebook to upload pictures, videos and statuses to update their loved ones with whatever is going on in their lives. Facebook is also a great way for aspiring artists to put their material out there whether that be painting, drawings, music, singing etc.
The website can essentially pave the way to great things for companies and individuals. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though and Facebook accounts getting hacked is a serious problem. This is because there is a lot of personal information on Facebook that malicious hackers can gain access to and use to impersonate the user. For these reasons and for many more, it is vital that you take the above mentioned steps responsibly to protect your Facebook accounts.
