The very term - social network - implies socialising and not discreet conversation. However the Facebooks and Twitters out there have become such an essential part of information exchange between us that we inevitably begin to look for confidentiality and authenticity within our social circles. There are numerous [https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/protecting-yourself-social-networks vulnerabilities to consider] and important steps to [https://securityinabox.org/en/guide/social-networking mitigate them] are documented and require your action. In brief, you should: * switch on [[2 factor authentication]] for your account * consider [[I want to be anonymous connecting to the web|anonymity services]] when using the social network * use a [https://securityinabox.org/en/guide/passwords good password] to protect your login * configure your account's security and privacy settings (guide for [https://www.facebook.com/help/325807937506242/ Facebook] and [https://support.twitter.com/categories/51#category_267 Twitter]) When using a commercial social networking platform, consider that you are helping [https://immersion.media.mit.edu/ create the social graph] of your friends and associates. This is useful information to companies and security services. By remaining constantly signed in on your social network account in the browser, you are also disclosing your [https://myshadow.org/browser-tracking browsing habits] on the Internet in general, aside from their service. This extends to many types of websites, including your [https://trackography.org news and media] service. The [https://panopticlick.eff.org/ Panopticlick] project by the EFF can analyse your browser for traces of identifiable data that websites you visit will collect about you. The [https://myshadow.org/lightbeam Lighbteam browser add-on] will "visualise the relationships between the websites you visit and the third party companies that track your online activity through those websites" and the [https://www.ghostery.com/our-solutions/ghostery-add-on/ Ghostery browser add-on] will help you block these trackers from collecting your personal data. There are alternative social networking services that are built with privacy in mind, including [https://diasporafoundation.org/ Diaspora], [http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ RetroShare], [https://gnu.io/social/ Gnu Social] and a recently launched [https://www.minds.com Minds] for Android and iOS.