How can we be more careful when sharing information on social media?

Social media enables people to connect with each other like never before. Friends and family can communicate at any time and businesses can reach consumers in an entirely new fashion. But social media users should be aware of the risk of posting and sharing personal information, as well as misinformation in the form of fake news or altered images. Vientiane Times asked members of the public for their thoughts on this issue.

Ms Bounmy Vilayvanh, a resident of Savannakhet province: People use social media for lots of reasons, such as contacting friends, making new friends, getting information, and just for chatting. Social media has its disadvantages, especially if we use it the wrong way. So everyone should be careful before they post any material, or like, share or comment on anything. I don’t think it’s advisable to post anything that includes personal information, or give out details about what we own, our lifestyle or our travels, because we may become victims of cyber gangs and hackers or fall for fake news.

Mr Noy Syinsane, a resident of Xaythany district, Vientiane: I often use Facebook because I think all of the things I want to do can be accomplished this way. But we should be cautious when using social media and remember that we may be exposing ourselves to people with bad intentions. I know that some people use social media to play games, while others use it to conduct business. Whatever we do, we should make sure that it serves our best interests and does not harm us in any way.
 
Mr Thanongkhan, a resident of Naxaithong district, Vientiane: I often use Facebook to contact my friends and follow the news but not to post or share anything. I think people need to know how to protect their information. We also need to know which programmes or applications are best to help protect our devices from attacks. To protect ourselves, we need to read the details carefully before deciding to do something and should make enquiries if we see anything strange in our account.
 
Mr Somchit, a government official in Luang Namtha province: I’m well aware of the problems that can arise so I’m careful when posting and sharing anything online, particularly on Facebook and similar platforms. We should all be very careful when sharing or commenting on news posted online. If we’re not sure whether something is true or false, we should read the news published by official media agencies. One problem is that cyber criminals may hack something we’ve posted or shared. I’m concerned about this, so I’m very careful.
 
Ms Noy Phaivanh, an employee in Sisattanak district, Vientiane:
As we know, social media has both benefits and disadvantages and we need to be very careful when using such platforms. I’ve seen a lot of people posting information about their travels or the fact that they’ve bought some jewellery or other valuables, which puts them at risk of being robbed. We should consider everything carefully and try to decide if it’s appropriate or not before posting and sharing it on social media. 

By Lamphone Pasanthong
(Latest Update May 10, 2022)