Everything You Need to Know About LegalShield's Newest Product: Social Media Monitoring
- Bailey Edrington
- Apr 5, 2017
- 5 min read
Ok millennials, IDShield by LegalShield may just be the next best product for us.
As we all know, this generation is prone to oversharing on the internet. From using Facebook as a diary to tweeting out every passing thought we have, we give away far too many details of our personal lives. When we overshare we present ourselves as open targets to the world around us.
Don't believe me? Researching IDShield reminded me of this Jimmy Kimmel video which shows just how easy it is to obtain people's online passwords.
Why is oversharing on social media a problem?
As we begin to develop savings accounts and build credit and accrue assets, we become more valuable targets for identity theft. In all honesty, this is something I haven't spent much time worrying about until recently.
I am finally starting to build credit (with the help and guidance of my parents) and I am working to secure a job that is a bit more legit than babysitting. I now have more than a few dollars to my name and identity theft is becoming a real concern as I become more financially successful.
According to an article by Entrepreneurs' Organization, providing things like your full name (specifically your middle name), your date of birth, relationship status and pet names leave you wide open to identity theft.
How? Many of these facts correspond with common security questions for things like your bank account.
If your security questions are easily unlocked with a quick Facebook search, then it's easy for hackers to access your important accounts.
The Identity Theft Resource Center stated that because many social media sites require basic personal information (i.e. email address, date of birth, hometown, etc.) they inevitably increase your risk for identity theft. This is quite troublesome given that nearly everything in today's society is digital and on social media in some way.
So how do we avoid doling out our personal information?
The problem is, we really can't. As much as we'd like to, our personal information is available at all times to nearly everyone. We are socially connected on so many different sites and platforms, it's not hard to piece together our life stories based solely on our social media accounts.
On top of just the basic profile information, we often overshare personal information in the content we create on social media. I know I'm guilty of it! I've tweeted and Instagramed many-a-photo of me and my dogs with their names in the caption...and my dogs names may or may not have been one of my security questions at one point. (No worries though, the security question has since changed.)
This begs the question: how do we ensure our information is not being misused?
After much thought and consideration, I have realized it's almost imperative to have some sort of fraud detection software/service on-hand at all times. We don't have time to persistently monitor and track the status of our online identity, but that doesn't lessen the importance of protecting yourself from fraud.
How does IDShield work?
The Sparknotes summary of everything IDShield does is that it serves a constant scanning tool to every facet of a person's identity, be it a social security number or a social media profile.
With a simple Google search, I was able to find a plethora of services offered by IDShield. From what I gather, the greatest weapon against identity theft is constant scanning. We are generally running around doing a million things, so we don't have time to scan for potential identity theft. Even if we did have time to personally monitor our online identity, it would be a colossal waste of our resources.
IDShield provides several services beyond social media scanning; however, I would argue that social media scanning is going to become more and more vital as the years pass.
How does IDShield help me monitor my social media?
The social media monitoring tool starts by scanning your profiles and letting you know where you have points of vulnerability, a.k.a. personal information on a public setting. This allows you to see the security risks that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
The social media monitoring tool keeps a constant watch on the public elements of your social accounts, which in turn, protects your identity and your reputation. To me, that sort of protection is invaluable.
As a PR professional, I would much rather handle a crisis proactively than retroactively. Offense is almost always a better option than defense.
It will continue to monitor the accounts you have linked to the app for signs of identity theft and improper usage of account information.
Also (fun fact) the social media monitoring tool will check your profile for content that could create a potential reputation risk. It scans for things like obscene content, foul language and illegal substances. Not only does social media monitoring protect your identity, it also protects your reputation.
So let's say, for example, you have a little too much "fun" on a Friday night. On this particular Friday evening, you post a bit of a scandalous Instagram picture. This picture (in a less than classy manner) references just how much alcohol you've consumed in the past hour. IDShield will politely remind you within 24 to 48 hours that said post may pose as a reputation hazard.
The reputation-related social media monitoring is just one more reason why millennials should really consider investing in this kind of brand and image control. If only IDShield had an app for sorority girls! Standards chairs across the US would be out of a position! (But I digress...)
Which accounts does IDShield monitor with social media monitoring?
IDShield currently links with the big four social sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. For me as a college student, those are four of the most frequently used apps on my phone, sans Snapchat. As far as having a "brand" and managing a reputation, there are no greater profiles to utilize than the ones listed above.
IDShield conveniently links to each one of them with the toggle menu and constantly monitors the public elements of each account, including the accounts that interact with yours on social. The beautiful thing about this service is how all the features of IDShield and social media monitoring are available on the app. The app sends notifications, updates, security tips and recommendations, and allows you to check-in to see the status of your social media security.
Final thoughts
To be entirely honest, I have greatly enjoyed researching this product. I am entirely too fascinated with social media, its peaks and perils alike. If I were truly adulting and functioning on my own income, I would have signed up for IDShield yesterday.
The cool thing is, IDShield offers so much more than just social media monitoring. I highly suggest scanning their website and looking into all the services it offers. I can honestly say I knew very little about this product prior to researching it, and with the information I have found I would very willingly subscribe to IDShield.
All in all, I think we as millennials must be more aware of how open we are on social media. Are we putting our personal information on private or public? Are we creating security questions that overlap with our social media content? Are we ensuring our identity is protected, even when we aren't watching?
I know that up until this point I have not been cautious enough. However, I have learned how valuable protecting myself on social media is by seeing the lengths to which IDShield goes to monitor it. Like it or not, social media is now a part of our identity, and we must protect it as fiercely as we would protect our bank accounts. Sadly, it won't be long before the two are inextricably linked.
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