Facebook is not your 'private diary' people...

I have been hearing more and more about how some people are getting fired over Facebook posts, etc. Some people like to post a play by play event of their lives even if they are private matters.
Not sure how many of you know that if you are involved in a court case, the defendants can use your Facebook profile as discovery. I think that a third party goes into your profile and goes through all of your posts and just gives the court the relevant information, but still, they will get access and see everything.
So, even your profile is set to private, remember that if anything, Facebook is intended to make the details of your private life public; it's part of our "LOOK AT ME" culture. Remember, if you don't want anything used against you, don't facebook it lol.

Also, another interesting article that came out today:

Do I Know You? Fake Friends Adding Fresh Danger To Facebook

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - Back in a more innocent age, a Facebook friend bore at least some resemblance to an actual friend: They were real people with real identities with whom one had some connection in real life. But the online "friends" who populate Facebook are increasingly not who they say they are. Indeed, some are not even real human beings, but merely malevolent online creations.

Facebook has distinguished itself from competing social networks by requiring that members use their actual identities, a stipulation that has created both an aura of intense connection and a sense of safety, helping Facebook to grow into a $50-billion behemoth with 550 million members. Breaking from a tendency toward anonymity in online interactions, Facebook made a visionary choice to engage real people who have offered up the intimate details of their lives. The site's policies specifically prohibit "impersonating anyone or anything" and mandate usernames with "a clear connection to one's identity."

The rule has not always been strictly enforced -- there have always been a number of accounts belonging to pets, babies, even stuffed animals. But this founding principle now seems increasingly at risk, and with it, Facebook's attempts to encourage greater sharing, woo ad dollars and remain the primary destination for socializing on the Internet. In recent months, Facebook users have reported inboxes flooded with a growing volume of spam friend requests from unknown individuals with unlikely names, stock photos and sparse profiles: ghost accounts that belong to computers, not people.

The extent of the problem is difficult to quantify, even for Facebook. Yet this apparent uptick in spam -- which has been a problem since inception -- suggests a potentially-growing fraction of the site's members have sham identities that are being used to extract personal information from legitimate users, say social media experts.

In addition to being a nuisance and possible security threat, these fake accounts undermine the values that have helped Facebook to become the world's most popular social network.

"It makes it very hard to trust people on Facebook because anyone can create a fake account," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, a security firm. "These days the only way tell if a Facebook friend request came from someone you actually know is to ring them up and say, 'Hey, did you send me a Facebook friend request?'"

The problem is a particularly thorny one for Facebook as the company attempts to encourage its users to share more liberally with one another and with the web at large. Why return regularly to a site regularly peppered with scams, spurious deals, or even viruses? Posting photos, updates and real-time data on one's whereabouts becomes far less appealing when the information runs the risk of being used by hackers.

So just who are the puppeteers controlling these proliferating fake Facebook friends? And can they be stopped?

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*So remember, if you don't know that person, it's best not to add them to your friends list.

i only add people i know.& a few online people i trust.

sweetheart wrote:

i only add people i know.& a few online people i trust.

Same here.

I must be very thankful to you for posting this Carol. I know a lot of friends of mine who post every single things they do on Facebook and just don't know how dangerous it could be.

I don't udnerstand why they need so badly to put over a public screen every single thought they have, what they will do tomorrow...and even their telephone numbers and private adresses!!! My! How could they be so innocent? I'm worried for some of them, but I don't know how to said it to them without appearing myself as a bitter annoying person.

Vanesa.

Yes I do not recommend at all posting phone numbers!

Vanesa wrote:

I must be very thankful to you for posting this Carol. I know a lot of friends of mine who post every single things they do on Facebook and just don't know how dangerous it could be.

I don't udnerstand why they need so badly to put over a public screen every single thought they have, what they will do tomorrow...and even their telephone numbers and private adresses!!! My! How could they be so innocent? I'm worried for some of them, but I don't know how to said it to them without appearing myself as a bitter annoying person.

Vanesa.

Yeah. I recently had to call several of our clients to ask if they belonged to any Social Networking Sites since they are in the middle of court cases. The ones I have talked to so far all tell me they are amazed at what some people post on there lol
I deleted my original account but then re-opened one under a fake name lol, just because I missed some of the news from certain websites I was a fan of, I am not friending anyone I personally know under my fake name, the account is just get the news from those websites. But goes to show you how easy it is to create an account under a fake name I also remember following a certain cat when I had my original account

It's okay if we friend people and pets of people we DO know. What I am talking about is people we DON'T know. There are many people who add and add and add so their friend count gets high and they don't even know 3/4 of the people. Also one must be careful about posting things that are more private matters. I remember reading about things on Facebook that I couldn't believe they were sharing with everyone. It was just information I really did not need to know.

Facebook is great but ONLY if you use it and treat it right.

Just another reason why I have never signed up for Facebook....

Carol wrote:

I also remember following a certain cat when I had my original account

I can't imagine.

I agree. I use Facebook for business purposes. I rarely post personal stuff there. I'm pretty sure no one cares what I eat for breakfast, when I go to the bathroom, or if I think my husband is a jerk--which I don't, but you would be surprised how many husband/wife nasty conversations are there.

You guys have said it all.
I quit facebook some time ago, I just didn't see the need.

I read this happened to look at my profile and noticed my phone number was listed!!! Wow...didn't realize this until now. Thank you for posting. I certainly don't remember posting that.

Maybe they saw your complete name and got your telephone number...

Vanesa.