Protect your Privacy

10 years ago it was every man, woman and child with their machine, flying solo, swimming in isolation in the vast ocean of cyberspace. It was incredible when the first online retail stores flung open there digital doors, meaning that we could buy things without even having to leave our own homes. Now we have the new online phenomena in the form of social networking, meaning that we now don't even have to go further than our computer screens to stay in touch with people we know in the 'real world'.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a Facebook addict, it's always one of the first things I check each day. I find it great for sharing photos and even finding people that I've lost touch with over the years (some names can be a real surprise!). Some bits do really annoy me though, in particular all these new 'what breed of dog are you?' type applications... I DON'T CARE!! The level of access that these applications demand to my own personal data gripes me, I only want the people that I say I'm friends with to have access to that.

This is where I believe Facebook beats other social networking sites a flexible and high level of privacy options available to make sure that our info appears where we want it to. The trouble is how many of us actually bother to do it or even know where these options are?

Even with such tools available it is ultimately up to us as individuals to control the information we put about ourselves online, so next time you tag a photo of yourself, update your status, write on someone's wall or share your inner most thoughts within 140 characters, be careful and think about if you're comfortable or not with the perception that it gives other people about you who have access to that information. If not, think about updating those privacy settings or potentially not sharing quite so much in the public domain, as you'd be surprised how often things like this can come back to bite you in the bum or look silly.

(For more information on privacy settings on Facebook, go to the Settings Menu -> Privacy Settings)