Invasion of privacy

Google your name...go ahead, I dare you.  Google your name and see what happens.  Does anything pull up that you would prefer not to show?  Look at your friend list in Facebook.  How many of those "friends" do you actually know?  And by actual, I mean you have met them face to face, have a real connection to them other than what their pictures look like from within a computer monitor?  Those following you on twitter?  How many of those who follow you would you prefer to NOT have follow you after a few interactions with them?

How do we protect ourselves from a constant invasion of privacy?

For the average adult today, we have a Facebook, twitter, and Flickr account.  We have multiple email addresses used for different reasons like personal verses spam verses work.  Some have accounts with online dating sites, Classmates, and LinkedIn.  We are constantly allowing the outside world to invade our privacy, constantly allowing others to take a peak into our virtual lives through pictures on sites, know our whereabouts through Foursquare, scvngr, or other applications that allow us to check in.  The average stranger can find out information about who we are without us even knowing. 

Ever get that friend request on Facebook where you immediately declined, then blocked the person from ever accessing your page?  Ever get that email saying someone is following you that you'd prefer to burn the email rather than follow back?  The worst fact of the matter is, it allows those we think we know to exploit, use, and abuse our information.  It is those who we trusted that seem to gain pleasure from knowing more than we would like them to know. It is that sinking feeling that someone you never wanted to speak to again has "found" you, and you thought you hid so well.

Truth is, I use my Facebook account to catch up with family, old friends, new friends...my kids are my friends, so I try to keep everything PC for them.  Twitter is used for venting my frustrations...I will vent about work, wrongness of others, issues of my heart.

Why the difference?

For the most part, no one on twitter really cares...I don't have to worry about someone replying, asking if I am okay.  I don't have to worry about an on-slot of unnecessary, but much appreciated, concern.  Most everyone does a "tweet-and-leave", which is great!  I can vent, get something off my chest for 1.2 seconds, and know it will just sit, left alone, without questions...Unless you are following me for reasons of keeping tabs on me, I can, for the most part, get things out.  Not true of Facebook.  Friends on Facebook, as much as I love most of them, instantly think if you post a status it is about them.  They think you solely post for their own humor, or that if you are upset you will use a few words in your status to break even, which is so far from the truth.  And when this happens, I always wonder "How ego-centric can you possibly be?"

But the whole point is, if you don't want too much of your privacy given away, safeguard it with all your might.  You have control over what you tweet or post as a status.  You have control of where you check-in, and sometimes even if your information is available online.  When signing up for the social network world, you agreed to terms and conditions.  If you somehow now do not like the terms and conditions, you can't really have sign-up remorse now.