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Social Media Safety Awareness

Credits Ali Ravi, Daniel O'Clunaigh, Samir Nassar, DJ, Lindsay Beck   Last Updated 2016-03

An introductory module addressing salient points concerning safe practices and behaviors when using social media apps and services, with the goal of increasing participants' awareness of the trade-offs of social networking services, allowing them to make more informed choices.

Learning Goals for Participants

  • Become more aware of the trade-offs of social networking services in order to make more informed choices.
  • Review the privacy and security options and settings of popular social networking sites.
  • Consider how the information they share about themselves, others, and their networks can be used and misused.
  • Be aware of the priorities and incentives of the companies who own social networking sites.
  • Be aware of how governments can compel these companies to take down data, or give it to government officials.

Important Notes

This is one of the most fast-evolving topics, due to the constant updates to social networking tools, their policies, and how they are used. Keep your knowledge up-to-date and adjust your trainings as needed, especially to include any vulnerabilities.

Find out what your participants use before you put together your training, and what their primary concerns, issues and questions may be (if any). Use this to tailor your session.

Preferences for particular social networking tools and services varies widely. Included here are some of the most common social networking tools, but it is by no means representative of what is used worldwide. After you find out what your participants use before the training, if there is a social networking tool or service that you’re unfamiliar with, do the legwork to research the tool before putting together this session.

Additional Material

You may also find the content on Locking Down Social Media from the Security Education Companion to be useful.

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