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Who is watching you online ?

Monday, November 24th, 2008 | Life | No Comments

I had a conversation with a friend about my Facebook profile. She commented that I was behaving myself and when I replied that I as always well behaved she told me that maybe I was just discreet.

This was of course, true. I try to be careful about the information that I put about myself online. I have had the experience that many of my past employers have found me online and so I am very aware about power of having a positive online profile.

This got me thinking though. Just how much thought do peope put into the information that the put up on these public sites ?  There are a large number of sites that allow people to express themselves such as  social networking sites like  Facebook or Myspace, blogs like Wordpress or Blogger and photo sites like Picasa or Flick. People are beginning to put more and more intimate details of their life online. I wonder how many think of the implications of making their private lives so public.

Ask yourself this: how many of your Facebook friends are actually friends of yours ? How many of them do you trust to know the intimate details of your life ? I have seen people with upwards of 700 Facebook friends who post everything about themselves online. They have no problem telling people where they are going and at what time. They see no problem in posting revealing photos of themselves, their friends and family.

Consider this: More schools are looking towards sites like Facebook and Google to gather information about potential students. According to a quote in the Chicago Tribune, “Today’s application is not just what you send . . . but whatever they can Google about you”. This doesn’t only apply to students. Potential employers have been using social networking sites to check on potential employees for years. It seems to be a growing practice for employers to look for red flags such as signs of excessive drinking, drug use or violence.

Then there are the inherent security risks of letting people know the details of your life. If you look over some people’s profiles, you can tell exactly where they are and where they are going to be. I today’s society, with crime on the rise, this doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do.

So what can you do ? Well, simple common sense is the answer. Before you post those pictures of your drunken escapades or that wall post about your latest breakup, think to yourself, is this something you want to have public ? You can explore Facebook’s safety guidelines and explore the privacy options avaiable. Above all, try to use good judgement. If you wouldn’t share it in the street with cmplete strangers than maybe you shouldn’t be posting it online.