A recent nationwide poll conducted by The Rad Campaign and Lincoln Park Strategies shows that although 96 percent of American social media users distrust the ability of social media platforms to protect their personal information, they still use them.

According to the poll, users are very concerned about the protection of their information and would like to see the social media giants do more to protect their data.

The poll showed that users are concerned about hacking, malware infections and identity theft, and that online tracking and the use of cookies was an issue for 72 percent of those who responded to the survey.

Nonetheless, these users continue to use their social media accounts.

If you are like the users involved in the poll, a suggestion is to make an educated decision of which social media platforms are most useful to you. If you do not believe that one particular platform is worthwhile, take a break from it. Prioritize where you are sharing data and make an educated decision on why you want to use one particular platform.

Once you decide which ones to use, take a look at their privacy policy (yes, really read it) to see what they are doing with your data and review and set any privacy settings that are offered according to your wishes. Take control of your social media accounts and your data.

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