How many friends do you have on Facebook? Would you say that, on average, you know these friends:
1) very well?
2) well?
3) somewhat?
4) not at all?

In the real world, we are generally quite selective about the company we keep and what personal information we share with them. However, when using social networking sites, too many of us forget to think before we click. Accepting a new friend represents more than just a click of the mouse—it means adding that person to your friends list and, if you haven’t set up different privacy settings for different lists of friends, giving that person access to all of your personal information.

Most of us have Facebook “friends” we would more likely consider acquaintances, if not total strangers. But think about the information you’ve chosen to post on your page – have you revealed your full name?; what about your address or your date of birth? If you are revealing information that could be used against you if it falls into the wrong hands you really need to think about who you are allowing to see that information. For example, when you write something as simple as “off to the cottage for the weekend!” as a status update, that may signal to a potential burglar that there’s nobody home all weekend and that your home is an easy target.

We’re not saying that you should avoid social networking sites such as Facebook – just be aware of the risks and take a few precautions to fully benefit from the positive aspects of these sites. This means limiting the kinds of information you put online and taking a close look at the privacy settings. These settings control what information about you is visible. Let only your real-life friends see your page, what you post, and your photos and applications.

Go over your friends list frequently and weed out those friends who are no longer in your circle, or restrict their access to your information. The good news is that this is reversible: you can always delete friends. However, try to avoid going through that trouble in the first place by being careful when accepting a new friend request. Only give your real friends access to your personal information – someone you don’t know doesn’t need that information anyway!

You bet it can. Case in point: an article on MSNBC detailing a recent post on Twitter, a social networking site that allows you to let “followers” know what you are doing, in 140 characters or less. One hundred and forty characters was all it took for one follower, known as “theconnor” to engage in a “social networking comedy of errors” by boasting about, and then being way too honest about, a job offer s/he had just received:

“Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Not long after the post went up, a representative from the company had responded, “the connor’s” true identity was revealed on the Internet, and a video mocking “theconnor” started circulating on YouTube.

What’s even worse? After seeing the reaction, “theconnor” changed the privacy settings on the Twitter account, making them private, and deleted the content of the home page. But, “it was already too late… thanks to Google Cache, the deleted content of “theconnor’s homepage resurfaced on CiscoFatty.com, a Web site erected to commemorate this cautionary tale”.

The article details other social networking faux pas that resulted in the creation of the term “Facebook fired”.

It just goes to show that nothing on the Internet is private, nothing on the Internet can ever really be deleted – and if you’re not careful about what you post, the Internet can get you fired.