Social media sites change. It’s inevitable and sometimes they change quickly and the result is different settings for your profile. Facebook, in particular, is notorious for changing settings on people, but Linkedin has also recently changed some settings and not much, if anything, has been done to notify users of the change. Typically social media sites don’t notify people of changes. Instead we find out through trial and error, or because someone else found out.
What I do to keep up with changes on social media sites is visit them once every couple months with the express purpose of exploring the site and seeing what, if anything has changed. Alternately, I’ll also keep my eyes out for what other people are saying about the privacy or account settings of a site and then make changes based on what I find. Either approach works, and used in tandem, they can help you keep on top of privacy and security concerns you might have.
When you visit a site to see what has changed, you need to explore everything about the site. You want to not just visit the account and privacy settings, but really visit every part of the site that you use and parts you normally wouldn’t visit. Click links, and try features out, so that you can understand how they work. Don’t be afraid to change a setting, especially if the current setting isn’t one you want.
Also use this opportunity to visit your profile. Look over all the information you’ve provided. Is it information you are satisfied with? Do you feel it accurately portrays the services and products you provide. Look at other people’s profiles and see if they are using something you aren’t using. For example, did you know you can add video to your Linkedin profile? Slideshare is an application you can use to add a video to your profile. If other people are enhancing their profiles, you want to look at what they are using and then see if you can find it and add it to your profile.
Making an effort to check up on social media changes can keep you on top of your social media presence and help you avoid feeling overwhelmed by changes made to the different sites.And you never know…you just might discover that feature or setting that could really help you enhance your presence!
