IT Services News No. 154 Nov - Dec 2011
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IT Services News No. 154 Nov - Dec 2011 |
From the Helpdesk … Think Twice Before Sharing Personal Information on Social Networking Sites
1. Introduction
Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Flickr and YouTube have become extremely popular in recent years. Social networking sites bring together people all over the world by allowing them to get to know each other and share their common interests. With social networking sites, people can interact with each other in a variety of ways. Social networking sites also provide an attractive place where communities of friends can easily be established around the information people share with each other.
2. Possible Consequences of Sharing Personal Information on Social Networking Sites
It is important to think twice before sharing your personal information, photos, video on social networking sites. Do not put your safety or your future at risk. The posts, photos and video you posted on the social networking sites may be available for years. Your personal profile would be viewed by spammers, hackers and identity thieves, as well as current or future employers, recruiting professionals.
Sometimes, the consequence of sharing is not well thought of. For example, ABC news reported that an American teacher lost her job after commenting about her students and parents on Facebook. For details, you can take a look at the ABC news article at
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-firing-teacher-loses-job-commenting-students-parents/story?id=11437248#.TucZlVY_fo43. Advice on Sharing Information on Social Networking Sites
If you are working, it is advisable to keep your job-related comments offline. If you are a student and applying for jobs, think twice before posting online. That’s the advice delivered two years ago by U.S. President Barack Obama to a high school student who asked how to become a president. Obama warned teens to use caution when interacting on sites such as Facebook so they won’t regret certain activities later on. Obama said “First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life… And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who — you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search.” To watch Obama's video on YouTube, please visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si1gNXqH7iw.
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