Social Media: Help or Hurt

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1. The perfect person is not a real person. A supermodel or retouched profile photo should raise the first red flag.

2. Be wary if the profile describes a personality that complements your own or is too good to be true. Often, imposters will create interests and activities that mirror your own in order to start a conversation.

3. Check how many friends and followers are listed in the person's network. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. An imposter will often have significantly fewer.

4. Determine whether any of your "mutual friends" have actually met your newest online acquaintance in person.

5. Use search engines to do a quick background check on the name and basic information used in a profile. If the profile claims the person attended Oxford, currently works as a CEO at an international company or runs marathons, you should be able to find mentions of these achievements on alumni, company or running sites, respectively. Schulman admitted that Googling Megan earlier in their relationship could have saved him a great deal of embarrassment and heartbreak.

6. Peruse posted pictures and albums carefully. A real person will often have pictures with friends and family, who will have tagged and commented on photos. By contrast, imposters will often use modeling photos featuring only glamorous shots of the individual rather than group photos.

7. Don't be tricked if your friend has multiple people who vouch for him or her online. One person can easily make multiple accounts to make it appear as if there is a support network of family and friends.

8. Imposters will often try to interact with your own friends and family members to create a broader sense of familiarity and build up a broader network of trust.

9. Finally, if you've been harmed by someone who posted a fake profile, report it to site monitors and authorities. Although it may be humiliating to be duped online, authorities will be able to identify imposters and close their accounts more quickly than you working independently.

With all these tips including one’s common sense, it should be pretty easy to spot a catfish. If one is going to active on the internet, knowing internet safety is a must.

Given these points, social media ultimately helps society. The pros vastly outweigh the cons. Everyone should give social media a try. Although social media can be scary at first, trying new things are the most exciting parts of life.

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Work Cited

“Benefits of Internet and Social Media”. Reaching Out. Web. 23 July 2016.

Koenigs, Michael. “9 Tips for Identifying Fake Online Profiles.” ABC News. 26 Aug 2011. Web. 24 July 2016.

“Leading Social Media Websites in the United States in May 2016, Based on Share of Visits.” Statista. Web. 23 July 2016.

Smith, Jacquelyn. “How Social Media Can Help (or Hurt) You In Your Job Search” Forbes. 16 Apr 2013. Web. 22 July 2016.