The dawn of the social media age has meant many things to many people. And now we’re seeing what Facebook and Twitter mean to banks: valuable data to mine for consumers’ credit risks.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise. What you post online is a record that will stay with you long into the future. But information is power. See the below tips for how to better protect your online reputation and ensure that conversations made online are as sanitary as possible (while still being fun!):

Happy Facebooking!!

What Banks and Lenders Will Be Looking For

• Anything indicative of changes in your financial circumstances. These may include phrases or keywords that you use on social media platforms, such as walkaway, laid off, fired, broke, moving to your parents house, etc. Banks will examine the correlation between these tweets and actual financial behaviors.
• What your social media connections are doing financially. The idea here is that your friends have similar habits and characteristics as you. If one of them tweets about financial hardship, to banks that could mean you might also have trouble later on. UCSD professor James Fowler explores a similar concept in a study about divorce: Being friends with someone who gets divorced makes that person 147% more likely to get divorced themselves.
• Upcoming life changes. Similar to financial changes, the idea here is that banks want to know when you’re approaching major life events, such as getting married or buying a safe car to transport your new child. This information allows banks to tailor certain products and services toward you.

Advice for Consumers

• Know your privacy settings. Always remember that anything you say in the public domain is never truly anonymous. To lessen the number of people who can view your posts, be sure to set all of your privacy settings appropriately.
• Think before you post. Even though you may be excited about getting married or upset over losing a job, remember that it could come back to haunt you.
• Keep in mind that everything can be traced back to you. One of the most overlooked aspects about posting on social media platforms is that the Internet has made it easier than ever before to trace things to the source. That means pictures, wall posts, status updates, and even “anonymous” blog comments.