Navy Recommended Privacy Settings for Twitter (Feb 2010: links and data may be outdated)

NAVY OFFICE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION INTEGRATION AND STRATEGY (OI-5) 12 FEBRUARY 2010 Recommended Privacy Settings: Twitter Adapted from DoD Social Media Hub Article, “Is your Social Media Site Protected?” http://socialmedia.defense.gov/index.php/2009/11/02/is-your-social-media-site-protected/ Privacy is increasingly difficult to protect, especially with the wide use of social networks that are designed to share your information with your family and friends. However, while using these tools you should do your best to maintain a level of privacy that you are comfortable with. Among the many social networking sites available today, Twitter is one of the most popular. Twitter is micro- blogging platform that lets you update your status, telling your “followers” and the world what you are doing. Posting Twitter updates publicly means: Your updates appear in Twitter’s public timeline — a flowing river of every member’s status Anyone can see your Twitter updates Your Twitter updates can be indexed by search engines Twitter has a very simple user profile, so there is less personally identifiable information requested compared to other social networks. Still, there are several basic security considerations you should heed when creating your account. General Privacy Tips 1) Don’t accept the default privacy and security settings – by default the privacy settings make much more of your information available than you are aware. 2) Choose a complex and unique password for each of your accounts – make it something that you can remember but that someone else is unlikely to be able to guess. 3) Watch out for third-party applications – third party applications can be very useful but often that usefulness is at the cost of your personal information. Use third-party applications wisely. 4). Unlike Facebook and other social networks, on Twitter, other users may follow (“friend”) you without your permission. If you feel the content being shared by someone following you is threatening or offensive, you may block that individual. Following other users does not present a security risk. While others can see who you follow they do not see the same stream of Tweets that you see when you visit your “home.” Instead, they only see what things you post. It is accepted on Twitter that “following” someone does not constitute endorsement. 5) Carefully read the privacy policies and terms of service – know what you are getting yourself into and also stay aware of any changes to the privacy policies 6) Be careful what you post – Posting something online is like writing it in stone. You can go back and delete it but it is probably too late as it may have been shared or saved by others who can see what you post. So think about what you say online.

NAVY OFFICE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION INTEGRATION AND STRATEGY (OI-5) 12 FEBRUARY 2010 Suggested privacy and account settings for Twitter users Settings>>Account Name: Your full name Your name is available to the public. Username: Your individual or command username The more simple and straight forward the username, the better. Using underscores and long number/letter combinations can create confusion among those who wish to communicate with you or your command. Email: The email address you want to use to receive notifications regarding this account You can change the email address in the future. Time Zone: Select the local time zone. More info URL: If using Twitter for your command, enter your command’s website or www.navy.mil. If using Twitter for individual use, use your personal website, blog, or leave this section blank. One Line Bio: If using Twitter for your command, indicate that this is “The Official Twitter account for [your command/ship/unit]” or a more detailed explanation of the type of information you will be posting to this account. For example, the official Navy Twitter account bio is, “Navy News that should matter most to the extended U.S. Navy family.”

NAVY OFFICE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION INTEGRATION AND STRATEGY (OI-5) 12 FEBRUARY 2010 Location: If you are using Twitter for individual use, you may include your regional or city location. If you are using Twitter for your unit, you can choose to provide your home station/base location or leave this section blank. Enable geotagging: Unselect this option Twitter's Geotagging feature allows users who opt-in to the service to selectively Geotag their tweets with their exact location and provide more context to users about their surroundings. It is important to note that this functionality is off by default. Application developers are required to be upfront and obvious about when they are Geotagging an update. For operations security purposes, we strongly encourage all Sailors and commands to leave this box unchecked. Delete all location data: Periodically check this setting and run this deletion Language: English Protect my tweets: Unselect You can set your Twitter account to private by selecting the “protect my tweets” box, but this is not the recommended setting for Navy commands and units because it prohibits information from being shared with the public. Also, just because you have selected to protect your tweets does not provide any real security for your tweet. Others can still take your tweets and forward them and Twitter has been hacked on occasion. If you want to communicate more securely, don’t use Twitter. However, setting your account to protected can be helpful to test using Twitter before your launch to the public. After you are comfortable using Twitter, select “unprotect my updates” to enable your posts to be seen in the public timelines and allow posts to appear in search results.

NAVY OFFICE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION INTEGRATION AND STRATEGY (OI-5) 12 FEBRUARY 2010 Settings>>Mobile Using your mobile phone to update Twitter can provide convenience. Your mobile number is not shared with the public. Settings>>Connections Common applications for Twitter link your account out to sites such as TwitPic, YFrog, TweetPhoto, FourSquare, TweetMeme, Bit.Ly, etc. can enhance the use of Twitter by adding metrics, photos and videos to your updates, but it’s important to note that the information you share using these services does not remain on Twitter alone. For example, if you share a photo using TwitPic, the photo is available on Twitter and on TwitPic.com. When signing up for these Twitter applications, be sure to go to the source and check how your information will be shared outside of Twitter before using that service.

NAVY OFFICE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION INTEGRATION AND STRATEGY (OI-5) 12 FEBRUARY 2010 Direct Messages Twitter’s Direct Message (DM) feature allows you to send private messages to other Twitter users that are currently following you. These messages do not appear on the main stream of Twitter messages like other updates. Even though these messages appear to be private, it is easy to mistakenly send the message publically and there is no guarantee that the other user will not make that information public. Because of this, it is recommended you only share information over DM that would be appropriate to share publically. Some examples of appropriate information that would be sent through a DM is contact information for longer conversations, perhaps an email address and more detailed information that the rest of your followers would not find interesting or helpful. URL Shorteners To accommodate the limited number of characters (140) permitted in a Twitter update there are several organizations that offer URL shortening services. These third party service providers make it convenient to share long hyperlinks over Twitter, but can open these sites up to security vulnerabilities. When shortening non-government hyperlinks, you may use common URL shorteners such as Bit.Ly, Is.Gd and TinyURL.com. You may also want to consider using http://go.usa.gov/ as a secure way to shorten .gov, .mil, .si, .edu, or .fed.us links. Summary The bottom line is to treat all photos and information you publish on a social network site as public information. Even with the privacy settings we recommend, all information you post and pictures you upload can find their way outside of your page where it could be used by others for purposes you didn’t intend.

Navy Recommended Privacy Settings for Twitter (Feb 2010: links and data may be outdated)

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Navy Recommended Privacy Settings for Twitter (Feb 2010: links and data may be outdated) Document Transcript