Social networking sites have definitely changed the way people connect with each other, both online and off. Though some still believe that the best connections you create are those in the physical world, others have embraced Facebook, Twitter, along with other social sites, as a way to build relationships and communicate with people.
Today, instead of calling up all your friends to invite them to a party, you can now simply invite them all on Facebook with just one fell swoop. If you want to impart some exciting news, you can simply tweet about it and you can have hundreds of your friends responding to it in an instant.
Social networking sites have even changed the way businesses work. More and more companies are using their Facebook page to promote their brand and serve as part of their customer support department, and many are using Twitter to keep their clients updated about the latest news, deals, and offerings they have.
But there is one thing you should be careful of when it comes to social networking – your privacy. Though you may not really care what you reveal about yourself since you consider it a form of self-expression, this may just come back and bite you on the back in the future. And do you really want most of your personal information revealed to the world, such as your civil status, your sexual preference, and even your birth date?
Most social networking sites offer different privacy settings for its users. Facebook has recently made some improvements on its site, making it easier for users to choose what they want to share and which people they want to share it with. This has led to some people speculating that this is to compete with the Google+ Circles feature, which most users have been raving about.
Actually, Facebook has had these settings even in the past, but they just recently made it easier for people to use and understand. But this recent update by Facebook and the popularity of Google+ Circles has really made it evident that privacy is very important to many people, even in the online world.
People want to control what they reveal to the public and what they reveal only to their friends. Honestly, do you really want that picture of you looking sloshed to be seen by your boss? Or what about that update that you just skipped work to play hooky? But even more than these things, most people like knowing that they can control who exactly sees their information, updates, posts, links, pictures, videos, and so on. Doesn't the idea of someone randomly stalking your page to see your pictures and updates sound incredibly creepy?
This is why it's very important that you review all the privacy settings of all your social media accounts. With Facebook recently updating its platform, you need to make sure that the settings you have in place are still what you want them to be – you can't really be too sure that this recent update hasn't messed up the current settings you have.
Here's a rundown of what you can do on the current Facebook site: On the upper right corner of the site, there's a small arrow next to the word "Home." Click on it, and a drop down menu will appear, and there's one row that says "Privacy Settings." Make sure to review what your default is set to, to ensure that you still have the settings you want and that you're not inadvertently revealing private information.
The recent update has also made it easier for you to choose which privacy setting you want for any content you plan to put up. Each post has a dropdown menu on the side that offers you three basic privacy settings to choose from: public, friends, or custom. With custom, you can choose specific friends, as well as what degree in your network you want your update to be open to.
Honestly, the online world is so vast, that it's very important that you know how to protect yourself and the information that's revealed about you online. With stalkers, stolen identities, hackers, and others out there, there's a lot that can potentially be dangerous , so you really want to make sure that your privacy settings are set the way you want them to be.
Don't be complacent when it comes to your privacy. Make sure that only the things you want revealed about you are out there. Truly, when it comes to social media, the best thing to remember is actually not to post anything that you don't want the world to see. Because even if you make the update for your friends only, you can't really predict if your friends will share that information with other people, since you don't really control them. The only thing you really have control over is what you choose to post online, so remember to always think before you post.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/the-importance-of-privacy-on-facebook-or-any-other-online-network-5322000.html
About the Author"Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer), buzz2bucks | a word of mouth marketing firm, is skilled at making networks "work" and harnessing powerful online and offline buzz, she facilitates online visibility services and word of mouth coaching and workshops – taking companies and professionals from buzz-worthy to bucks-worthy, http://buzz2bucks.com."
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