Social Media: Your Private Life Made Public!

Social Media: Connecting People

It’s free, it’s easy and it’s the quickest way to stay CONNECTED online! Social media networking is quick infotainment bundled with excitement about sharing everything with your friends and family – what you’re doing, thinking, eating, drinking, buying and even where you’re going.

Private Investigators are now using social media as an investigative tool.

But, are you sure you are not “over-sharing”?

Many people don’t realize when they crossed the limit and shared more than they should have on a public forum. While many of us readily create and update our personal details, days schedule, likes, dislikes and contact information over social media sites, “Would it be okay for U.S. CIA director Leon Panetta or his wife to post their addresses, vacation photos, children’s’ names and other personal data on Facebook?” Robert Sicilliano, an Internet Security Analyst explains the underlying privacy issues here.

Well, every tweet, image, video, comment, or blog that you post is kind of a micro-chapter of your public profile that anyone can access online. Sure, you created it for your friends, family and colleagues but it is also out there for other people with less virtuous interests. Social media are prone to internet lurkers and are leading to a real world problem like virtual stalking.

Online Socializing isn’t a boon after all.

You receive a friend request or a friend suggestion from a friend or from friends of friends and you add them to your friend list without realizing what you are really getting into. You chat, share personal information, pictures and videos with other people which could later turn into a threat to your own privacy.

Much recently, a bunch of high school teachers were fired for flirting with their students on social media sites. These teachers “friended” some of their female students and took it off to another level by writing creepy comments and posting inappropriate photos on a public forum like Facebook, one of which even culminated into a sexual relationship between the teacher and the student.

Public-Private pendulum swung too far public

Is your boss on your friend list? These days, social media has emerged as a very common threat to employees in the corporate world. According to a new study, by Proofpoint, an Internet security firm, of companies with 1,000 or more employees, 17 percent of the reported issues were with employee’s use of social media. If your job is boring, think twice before making it public or you could be fired. And if you are staying back home on sick leave, you better refrain from appearing online because you never know your boss could deem it abuse of trust.

And Andrew Keen wrote in his book, The Cult of the Amateur, “Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering.”

So How Do I Protect Myself In The Age Of Social Networking?

Since Facebook and Twitter are the most popular and populated of the bunch, lets talk about your privacy on these two major social networking sites. As a Private Investigator in Orange County, I know how easy it is to obtain information while online. Checking social media is a great place to start when a PI wants to find out the goods on someone’s social lifestyle. Here’s a great article on Facebook privacy (with good reference pics & examples) titled “10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know” written by Nick O’Neill.

Twitter can be a great outlet for sharing information “as it happens” but too often users post “tweets” they regret and very well could open up the door for a libel case if they spoke about someone in a bad light. It’s common sense, don’t say anything about anyone on Twitter if you wouldn’t say it to their face. Here’s an informative article about Twitter privacy titled “How to Protect Your Privacy on Twitter” written by Angus Kidman.

The OCPI Blog says “Stay Safe Out There, and Protect Your Privacy”!

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Ryan Garrahy is a state licensed private investigator specializing in surveillance, background checks, locating individuals and workplace investigations. He is the owner & principal investigator for Orange Investigations.

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