Instagram is one of the top five social networking platforms with around 1.2 billion users. The platform revolves around sharing photos and video content, which makes it popular with businesses and influencers. It’s also an easy way for individuals to share images of interesting things or send out messages to everyone who follows them.
Not every user wants their images or videos available to everyone else on the platform, like that creepy ex or that vaguely stalker-like work acquaintance. If you’re new to the platform and you want to keep a lower profile, keep reading for our guide to Instagram privacy.
Privacy Settings
One of the key Instagram privacy tips is that you should take advantage of the Instagram privacy setting. Instagram defaults all profiles to a public profile when you start an account. Not surprisingly, most users leave it that way.
It’s not a fixed option, though. You can change your profile from public to private in the settings. Doing that means your posts remain hidden from anyone who doesn’t follow you.
As an added bonus, it also means that you get to filter who can and can’t follow you. While that creepy ex can request to follow you, you can ignore or decline the request.
Blocking
Let’s say that you let someone follow you, but they’ve become unpleasant, aggressive, or you’re just not friends anymore. You still have options for privacy on Instagram with followers with the block tool. When you block a follower, they lose access to your feed.
This option works for both public and private accounts.
Safety
If you’re worried about Instagram safety, good password security is your friend. Never share your Instagram password with anyone. Come up with a complex password or use a password generator and enable two-factor authentication.
Complex passwords and two-factor authentication makes it difficult for someone to hack your account.
If you’re on the receiving end of bullying, abuse, or harassment, you should report the behavior to Instagram immediately.
Following Activity
Of course, some people maintain a private personal profile and a public profile for the business or side hustle. While you might want deep control over who can access your private feed, there’s a good chance you’d like to track Instagram activity for people following your business profile.
You can do that manually by scrolling through individual users’ feeds and looking at their profiles. You can also find software that will aggregate that kind of data for you.
Instagram Privacy and You
While Instagram leans into the social part of social networking, you can achieve a fair degree of Instagram privacy. Take advantage of the option to convert your public profile to a private profile. That gives you a lot of control over who can and can’t see your feed.
Use the block user feature if you want to drop a follower who has become a nuisance or creepy. Use good password security and two-factor authentication to help keep your account from getting hacked.
Looking for more tips on managing your online presence? Check out the posts in our Social Media section.
