Social media users are getting into big legal trouble. Here’s why financial advice on TikTok is to blame, in one minute.
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How to use Reddit for total beginners
I always want to keep you in the know. You may have heard of Reddit but never really got into using it. Unlike other social media sites, Reddit is more group- or topic-focused.
Think of it as various rooms of people sharing and talking about one particular topic. About 73.1 million folks use it daily, and there are 2.2 million groups you can check out. If you’re totally new to Reddit, here’s everything you need to know.
Reddit, set … go!
Reddit looks and feels like an old-school forum or message board: Members, or Redditors, can create and post to individual forums called subreddits.
Posts have comment threads attached where others can weigh in. You’ll see little arrows on posts and comments, too — these are upvotes and downvotes. That’s the crowd-based ranking system Redditors use to weed out spam and promote the good stuff.
You don’t need an account to browse …
But it’s free and come with a few perks. For one, you can post or respond to others’ threads and earn karma, a points system based on how many upvotes your post or reply gets.
You can also subscribe to subreddits to get the latest posts on your Reddit homepage — look for that big Join button.
Bonus: Lurking is when you only go on Reddit to read posts, not say anything yourself.
💡 Privacy tip: Don’t use identifying traits in your screenname! Reddit accounts are anonymous by default. If you include clues like your city or nickname, it’s easier than you might think for people to ID you.
Lingo to know
Don’t let the acronyms scare you. Here are some of the most common ones on Reddit:
Why you can’t access some sites while you’re on a VPN and what to do
Let’s say you’re browsing the web with a VPN. You’re protecting privacy, so you’re confident hackers and advertisers can’t track you. Then you try to go to a site, and it just won’t load.
This can throw a wrench into productivity when working. Or it can ruin your mood when trying to have fun online.
Sending or storing naked pictures? You might be breaking the law
People search sites scour public records to get information on you. This includes your full name, address, phone number, family history, police records, relationships, employment information and more. Tap or click here for instructions on removing your information from these invasive sites.
Not happy with something you bought on Amazon? Huge change coming for third-party items
We’ve become super reliant on Amazon for many of our purchases. If you can think of it, you’ll probably find it on Amazon and have it in your hands within a couple of days. Though essentials and other supplies are more readily available this year, the urge to buy, buy, buy is hard to kick.
Warning: Phony 'violation' email from Facebook spreading
Copyright violations are a big deal — and most social media sites heavily enforce them. If you post a copyrighted video or song to YouTube, for example, all it takes is a quick report from the license-holder and your content gets removed instantly.
How to get paid from Facebook's class-action settlement
Facebook has been caught with its hand in the cookie jar more times than we can count. Between Cambridge Analytica and data-selling scandals, it seems like the world’s biggest social network is a magnet for legal trouble.
Facebook is paying users to QUIT before the election
We’ve been saying that you should take a break from Facebook for some time now, but it’s no longer just data and privacy issues you need to worry about. There’s now a financial incentive to cut down your use.
Recently, Facebook announced that it would be reserving its right to delete or block any content that can potentially put it in legal trouble. The exact specifics of this are vague — and probably intentional. Tap or click here to see the changes Facebook made.
Practical Tech Tip: Find out who really sent you an email
There was a time when our house phones would ring off the hook with annoying, unknown and unwanted calls. Today, these annoying messages are coming in the form of emails. Tap or click here to learn how to stop robocalls.
5 digital signs your significant other is cheating
A secret affair is like a bombshell. You feel shock, rage and humiliation. You feel betrayed, your trust squandered. But for many people, the worst part isn’t the act itself, but the secrecy. As several data breaches have proven, dubious dating sites are overflowing with cheaters, to the shock of their long-term romantic partners. Tap or click to learn how millions of cheaters were exposed online.
Zuckerberg waves shiny object to re-direct attention from scandals
Open/download audioYou can always gauge how much legal trouble Facebook is in by how many shiny new toys it puts in front of consumers. Today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a re-redesign of the social media site, but does it really matter?
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Protect your phone number! How cheap technology spreads the robocall plague
In a hurry? Tap or click to listen to this story in less than a minute!