How to Protect Your Privacy on YouTube | Social Media Corporate Training

It seems a new YouTube star is born every day. Hundreds of thousands of people (aka. YouTube Creators) are making money and pursuing full-time careers by publishing videos on their YouTube channels.

Being popular on YouTube and having millions of subscribers does not come without a cost. YouTube creators who post videos of themselves online are susceptible to privacy issues without them even knowing.  You could easily give away private information, such as your address and phone number, which could lead to cyber stalking, spamming, and identity theft.

As many YouTube creators learn the hard way, keeping things private and running a successful video log (vlog) are not exactly two compatible goals.  On YouTube it is important to be 100% real and genuine. This means broadcasting everything from adorable kitty moments to family drama for the entire YouTube verse to see.

Our online digital marketing course instructors have done extensive research on the subject of YouTube privacy. In this post, we will walk you through the steps you will need to take to protect your privacy when using the video streaming website.

4 Ways to Make Your Activity on YouTube Private | YourDmac.com

While we do not share as much personal information on YouTube as we do on other social media channels, if you are mindful of online privacy, you may want to take a look at your privacy settings.  The following tips, compiled by our digital marketing corporate training team, will help you protect your privacy on the video-sharing website and ensure your account is set up in a way that satisfies your need for online confidentiality.

Tip #1: Do Not Reveal Your Video Preferences

Your watching habits and likes are none of anyone’s business, including Google itself. These features/information should be disabled from public view.   The main reason to keep this information private is online reputation management. You do not want to be judged, especially by your employer, solely by the videos and content you like/view on social media.

How to Change Video Preferences

Step 1: Click on the avatar icon on the home page, then select “Settings”.

Step 2: On the left sidebar of your screen, find and select “Privacy”.

Step 3: You will be taken to a screen that will show you if your liked videos, your subscriptions, and your saved playlists can be seen by the world or only by you.  Check the box next to each category you would like to keep private, then click “Save.”

Tip #2: Disable Ad Personalization

Google uses the videos you watch to suggest advertisements to you. If you want to stop Google tracking your viewing history and suggesting personalized ads, here is how to turn that off.

How to Disable to Ad Personalization

Step 1: Click on the avatar icon on the home page, then select “Settings.”

Step 2: On the left sidebar of your screen, find and select “Privacy.”

Step 3: Click the Google Ads Settings link in the “Ads based on my interest” section of the page. To turn off personalization, move the slider in the “Ad personalization” section to “Off.”

Tip #3: Review Connected Accounts on a Regular Basis

Cross-posting is the act of sharing the exact same information across different social media platforms. It does not always yield positive results. Social media marketers are tempted by it because it keeps their accounts active, saves them time, and makes it easy to share their content widely.

Cross-posting is much like a text that has been translated by Google Translate. Using Google Translate, you run the risk of getting a very weird result that looks careless and unintentional. Instead, your content should be fluent in the language of each platform. Otherwise you will never be able to convert or engage followers and fans.

How to Unlink a Connected Account

Go to “Connected Accounts” in the left sidebar of settings. Here, you can manage what gets posted to companion social media sites like Twitter whenever any activity is detected in your feed. This is where you can control whether or not the third party platform alerts fans when you upload a video, add a video to a public playlist, or like/save a video from another content creator.

Tip 4: Hide YouTube Comments

Truth be told, offensive YouTube comments are what makes YouTube successful. Making inappropriate comments is a pastime that YouTube comment trolls frequent. Disabling comments will make sure that no one can write comments on your videos that will tarnish your reputation. To learn how to disable YouTube comments on your videos click here.

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