By: Nevine A. Abaza

 

Social media keeps us connected. It helps us reach people far and near, making the world seem smaller and smaller. With proper use, we can have the whole world at our reach, maintain friendships, create new ones and even improve our careers. But being so connected and out in the open keeps us in the reach of cyber stalkers. Whether cyber stalkers are people you know or complete strangers, it gets to be very irritating at times, prohibiting us from fully enjoying our online experiences. Social media being relatively a new thing, we struggle with how to deal with such stalkers. Here are a few tips that can help you out…

 

BE SELECTIVE

The easiest thing you could ever do on social medias to avoid stalkers is to be super selective with your friend list/followers. Why make it a public parade when it can be a VIP only lounge? Of course you would lose plenty of the social media charm… But safety first, right?

NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T

Sometimes we are obliged to add someone we know on Facebook even though we know they would be stalking us big time! Just because you have to friend them on Facebook doesn’t mean that your social networking is forever ruined and constricted. Create a list of those people and choose the privacy setting as “friends except…”

INVISIBLE

Some stalking is harmless and can be ignored. If you know that nothing serious would amount from it, then why obsess over it or freak out? Let it go and let it be.

AND STAY OUT!

The easiest thing you can do when being stalked online (if you do realize you are being stalked) is to block or report that person.

HAND THEM IN

If you have enough online support from friends and followers, you can always hand in your stalker to them. With enough power you can have their account disabled, or at the very least get enough harassment from others that they wish they never even thought about stalking you.

SOME PRIVACY PLEASE

Many people assume that their posts are all private, only friends can see them, but with Facebook updates and privacy changes many people actually do have many things out in the open for anyone to see. Double check on your privacy settings every now and then to make sure you are sharing the right things with the right people.

SHARE CONSCIOUSLY

Know, what to share with who, where, and when. The more you share the more you will be followed and contacted. Which can be a good thing actually, but the more you share the more you will be harassed and stalked too! So be careful what you share, put some thought into it before you click on that post button!

I’M HERE! STALK ME!

Willingly or unwillingly you might be sharing your location with people all over the world. Do you do Facebook check-ins? Is your location on twitter visible? You don’t want online stalkers to turn into real life stalkers, do you? Double check your privacy settings on all social media platforms, make sure you are not sharing more than you need to. If you love your location check-ins and can’t do without them, then at least know for sure who you are sharing it with, or be prepared to deal with real life harassers and stalkers.

TAKE IT SERIOUSLY

Is that person excessively bothering you? Is it starting to scare you? If the stalking or harassment took a whole new level of creepy and you worry about your safety don’t hesitate to take legal action.

Everyone hates stalkers, but you as well stalk some people from time to time

Check who are the 6 people you stalk