I wanted to share a recent experience with you all in hopes that it might shed some light on the importance of managing your accounts and protecting your social media identity.
I don’t know about you, but between my personal and work logins, I have far too many username/password combinations in my head to keep them all straight. I was recently trying to log into my personal Twitter account, but since I haven’t been logged in for quite some time, I was having a difficult time remembering the correct login combination. So I proceeded with the “forgot username and password” process.
What happened next literally left my mouth dropped. I had the option to enter in my phone number as a way of gaining access to the account that was associated with that phone number. Immediately thereafter, I received a text that included a code to help me log back in. At this point I had just assumed this was my personal Twitter that it was helping me log into – but I was never asked to verify any of the account information….Before I realized it, I found myself staring at a Twitter account dashboard that wasn’t mine. In fact, it was worse: I had inadvertently logged into a former employer’s Twitter account – all without ever entering the current username and password!!!
It looks like the new social media manager at the former employer had gone in and updated the account with all her new information and I would assume she changed the password as well.
HOWEVER, what she failed to do was check out the MOBILE tab under the Settings tab. If she had, she would have seen my phone number was still listed as the phone that could access the account and Tweet on behalf of the account.
Lucky for them, I am not a disgruntled ex-employee out for revenge. Had I been, I could have done some SERIOUS damage to their online reputation and relationships. Instead, I quickly deleted my information from the account and signed out.
Please, please, please – make sure you are keeping a close eye on all of your accounts. I would suggest it as good practice to change passwords whenever someone leaves the company and had access to ANY account. And be sure to go through ALL the account settings to be absolutely sure they have been completely removed.
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