Social Media has taken over the lives of teenagers across the world, but are you doing enough to keep yourself safe?

Snapchat is one of the most popular forms of social media and can be a great app to stay in touch with friends. With this, it has become more dangerous than ever. Snapchat has added a feature called “Snap Map” where you can see the location of people on your friends list. This seems like a fun feature to see who is around you, but it has proven to be dangerous.

Recently, a 55-year-old man from the city of Cottonwood used the Snapchat location feature to follow a girl who is under the age of 15. He showed up to the girl’s house when no other members of her family were home, and sexually assaulted her. He threatened to kill the girl if she told anyone. Eventually the girl told a family member and the Sherriff’s Office got involved. The next day the man was arrested at his home.

This is not the first instance of this happening and sadly won’t be the last. With the world being as dangerous and scary as it is today, users need to be more cautious than ever. The following are a few tips to help users stay safe while on Snapchat.

• Don’t add anyone you don’t know personally;
• Never have your location feature on an app;
• Do not give out personal information, such as where you live, where you work or attend school, or hangout spots;
• Do not lie about your age;
• Do not send inappropriate photos.