First Word

Many Facebook users just go online and set up their personal pages. Most of the time, the average user doesn't give much thought to privacy in general. I thought I would educate social media users about a few privacy issues and some cautionary thoughts. Vital Statistics --yes, Facebook asks for your birthday with the intent to share that information and let people know when to regale you with happy-birthday wishes. Here is the rub -- identity theft. Thieves can slowly gather enough of your vital information to pull together enough data to steal your identity. What you can do is alter your birthday enough so that they can't get a hold of it or don't provide the data at all. The sniff, sniff downside is no birthday wishes on your special event. You might put the actual date wrong and get Happy Un-Birthday wishes if you need to feed your need for acknowledgement. Privacy Settings --you can lock down certain pieces of information two ways. When you set the About informatio...

Over the years, I've had this discussion with business owners. What privacy settings should you use when you have a Facebook page? The other question centers on who you should allow as a "friend" and should it only be people you really know? I'm going to provide my opinion to each question: Privacy Settings --people who are in business for themselves and promote any material with their actual names on it should never set privacy settings to the strictest levels, which is only friends can see your page. If you use your name on your marketing materials (and this applies to authors in particular) then your "fans" are going to search by your name. The whole point of social media (more important than using it to socializing if you're a business person) is to network and connect with others. Locking down your page and preventing others from reading your Wall puts a barrier between you and your audience. Potential connections who are trying to size up your bu...