Online Friends

With the growing rate of internet users and more time on computers and smartphones, there is increased tendency that people would make more online friends too. It is not new that some people spend more time to do online chats and messaging than physical visitation especially when there’s no occasion or festivity, so the rate at which users get glued to phones makes it a relational platform than mere interaction. Considering the reality of internet popularity in both formal and informal situation having friends online is therefore inevitable, but the concern is how safe are we?

Friendship is a relationship of mutual association between people and it is a relationship that is characterized by trust and likeness. The bottom-line is how much you can trust an online friends and to what degree are you safe with them. In view of this, here are few tips, since one cannot tell what they are capable of.

It is important to always limit personal information been provided on social media platforms especially on friends finding apps. This could be done by making sure your information provided in the biography section gives scanty clue about you so that your information don’t become a bait to reach you. It is also important to hold on to some information after accepting online friends like specific location, place of work, financial status and other sensitive information especially at early stages, since you don’t really know the kind of person you are talking to.

Another thing is to do some research about prospective online friends like reading their bios, checking their pages, their posts usual comments and other related issues before accepting friends request, most importantly when the person is completely new or strange.

Also, finding out includes been careful about the type of questions your online friends ask you, if they sound like the usual interactive questions or they sound extremely personal, which means there could be another motive for the friend request. One could still find helpful information by checking other social media profile of such persons in order to determine the genuineness of the person or otherwise.

Keeping online friends is quite inevitable with growing numbers of internet users, however ensuring our digital safety is also important as a key to our physical safety, so it imperative that we trust our instinct especially when we feel uneasy about continued interaction with certain people. There is a great need to meet up in public spots when meeting with an online friend for the first time “meet up in public spots”. You can’t completely trust someone you are meeting for the first time. Remember that people with good intention will not insist on secret meetings against your wish.

Dear friend, one open-space meeting is not a guarantee to accepting closed door invitations, it may be a trick to future traps, so do take precautionary measures like inviting someone along or leaving a trail with someone that is careful, cautious and active enough to swing into action once anything goes wrong.