The document provides social media tips for empowering and protecting women online. It recommends using social media to learn from mentors, but also cautions that not everyone should be emulated and to avoid unsafe interactions. Specific safety tips include not sharing personal details or photos with identifying information. The document also advises establishing a strong online persona by thoughtfully curating social media profiles to reflect interests and values while maintaining privacy. The goal is to benefit from social media connections and information while staying safe.

1. Trish Lawrence (Twitter: @authorblogger or http://www.trishlawrence.com)
Tricia Lawrence, Agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Social Media Tips In A Non-Deletable World
I want all women to be empowered and safe online. These are my best tips!
1. Learn and Experience
Social media helps us as women to get involved in causes and interests we
care about. It’s also a great way to meet other like-minded people and to learn about
how other people have experienced life, school, career, and dating. You can learn a
lot just by keeping up with mentors and/or people who you admire. You can even
retweet or like their updates (interact with them on Snapchat, Instagram, or
Tumblr) and what a thrill that can be.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone. If they don’t respond, don’t sweat it. If
they do, be polite, but let them know how much their example means to you.
Use social media to do your homework before—college applications, job
interviews, going out on the town with friends, traveling for work or vacation,
checking out a book, buying a new phone, and getting your hair done. I also
frequently use social media to make a list of shoes I really NEED. <grin>
Disclaimer: You can also end up meeting people who aren’t something to
emulate. If you find yourself the recipient of bullying and/or you see unlikable
behavior, feel free to walk away. Unfriend, unfollow, block, do what you need in
order to continue to learn and experience and keep your self-esteem intact. If it
escalates and you do not feel safe, tell someone!
2. Safety First!
Speaking of safety:
 Never give your birth date, home address, phone number, full name,
or any other identifying information out on social media. Identify theft
is real.
 Never take a picture that shows any identifying information in the
background or foreground. This includes banking information, gift
card codes and/or coupon codes, a picture of you standing in front of
your house with the house number or your car license plate visible.
 Do not meet someone from social media in person when you are
alone. Make it a public place and take a friend or two (or your older
brother). Don’t share details when you’re leaving town or when you’re
at the movies alone.
 The Internet is not private. Everything you reveal becomes part of
the archived record and it can be saved forever. The Library of
Congress is archiving every single tweet on Twitter.

2. Trish Lawrence (Twitter: @authorblogger or http://www.trishlawrence.com)
Tricia Lawrence, Agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
 Geolocation is now embedded into everything. If you’re out and
about, remember that every Tweet can be geolocated (meaning:
anyone in the world can locate you via your tweet), guests in your
home can turn your home address into a public location by using
Facebook Places, and you can be tagged in any picture, which often is
attached to a location.
 Beware of social media games. They pull personal information and
sell it to other companies.
 Do I know you? Be careful about who you friend on Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat. How well do you know them? Take
stock before just accepting any invitation.
 Review your privacy settings often. Every social media channel
(Facebook is the worst) often unilaterally changes privacy settings
whenever they please. Check your settings and make sure what your
posts are viewable to the people you trust, not just any random
stranger.
3. Set Up A Strong Online Persona
An online profile can outlast you. What happens in five years when you’re
headed to college or grad school? What happens when you’re trying to land your
first big job?
I love seeing strong women on social media. And you can start now. My
advice?
Be thoughtful and self-aware. Think first about the purpose of social
media? What are you going to share? What do you want people to know about you
online? I call this “your story.” What’s your story? If you’re planning on being a
teacher someday, what about teaching interests you? What do you read online about
teaching? Can you share it? How about if you’re pre-med? How about if you want to
be a writer? Or an artist? Or an engineer? If you go online and follow certain people
in these fields, why wouldn’t you share their thoughts, refer your friends/followers
to the latest articles you read and enjoyed, and/or talk about what interests you?
Personal social media. It’s not all about your career or your interests.
Sometimes, you just want to chat with friends, retweet news of your favorite
musicians or artists, even spread some gossip about your latest celebrity crush.
That’s fine. But try to use the 80/20 ratio. You can share 20 percent personal, and 80
percent what interests you. But why?
It reduces the chances that you will have to suddenly become
interesting when the time comes. And I don’t mean that you’re not interesting
(you are), but say the college applications are due and you know that they’ll be
looking you up online, and you suddenly panic. The 80/20 rule helps you to keep the

3. Trish Lawrence (Twitter: @authorblogger or http://www.trishlawrence.com)
Tricia Lawrence, Agent, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
interesting at the forefront. That way, your Twitter feed is not all about Beyonce, but
also talks about a super cool article you read about teachers helping their students
by reading aloud in class.
It increases the chance that you will NOT give away too much personal
information. I like to tell women especially that in order to resist the urge to over-
share, we can focus on articles/news/people we find interesting (this includes
Beyonce; her gorgeous September VOGUE cover is on my social media!). This helps
me to not sit and stare at my phone and wonder what interesting tidbit I have to
share. I immediately just find someone else’s article, news, tweet, update to share
with my followers. That way, the fact that I’m meeting a friend at a restaurant later
than night stays on the DL.
I hope these tips help you to enjoy your time on social media and to stay safe
and strong.
If you ever need someone safe online, I am on Twitter.
I hope to see you online—safe and strong!