Be Careful What You Post on Your Walls

We've all heard about people getting fired or not getting hired because of their Facebook profiles.  As I said yesterday, I'm a huge Twitter fan, and I'm a member of Facebook, but really only joined the latter to reconnect with old friends.  I don't like playing the stupid games or wasting time on Facebook, mostly because I prefer to spend my free time doing things I enjoy more (playing with the kids, programming, watching House reruns).  I don't log into Facebook every day, or even every week, unless I get a friend request from someone.  I do log in monthly and read the wall posts, and I get email updates if someone posts a comment or something, so I'm connected to it without having to log in.  That's what I love about Twitter; I can just send a text message and I'm done.  If Facebook were more like that, I'd be way more interested.  Brightkite is actually my social network of choice; I can post photos and all that and it posts to Twitter (and I believe now to Facebook too).

Lately though, as Facebook grows, I've been inclined to play a few of the games and do some of the quizzes and all that stupid stuff.  Not anymore.  I just read an article on Wired (and this does not surprise me, as I am a techie) saying that marketing companies are starting to mine data from Facebook and other social networking sites.  Now, that may or may not mean much to you, but if that means my inbox is going to have even more spam, I'm dropping Facebook like a hot potato.

It was bad enough when taking the IQ test meant you were giving in to some $9.99/month surcharge to play some stupid game.  Did you know that when you gave them your cell number?  I bet you did after your next cell bill came in, didn't you?!  Read the fine print, people. 

The Internet is a great tool for many different things.  But you are still responsible for your own actions.