Yesterday I was reading Cosmo (not the place I expected to find articles relating to technology).
I came across an article on Privacy and Facebook, which made me really take a look at how I use Facebook.
The Article in the July issue of Cosmopolitan, titled “Read This Before You Go on Facebook Again“, touches on the privacy issues one should be aware of when using the Social networking tool.
Some things to be cautious of include:
Making your details public.
– This can include giving too much personal information about yourself to people that you don’t know well, such as address, phone number, DOB, etc.
Posting Pictures of yourself Partying
– A trend among employers lately is to look up potential or current employees on FB to see what they are like. Be careful of what you post. It’s your reputation.
Friend-ing Anyone
– “You wouldn’t let a stranger into your house and give them access to your personal things.” (Crain, p.148) With this in mind, why would you let a stranger have full access to your life on FB?
Updating Status to say where you are
– Many people don’t realize this, but by telling people that you are away for a week, etc might be an open invitation for those who don’t know you well to take advantage of the opportunity.
I know some of these things may seem like common sense, but some people don’t realize that you are posting all this public info about yourself to anyone with access to see.
I know once I read this article, I went into my facebook and changed my privacy setting for those friends from elementary school that I don’t even talk to anymore to make sure that they don’t know EVERY aspect of my life.
Just something to think about…