Think Again Upload Images Could Be Forever

Change My Pic — By Shopping Blogs on December 30, 2009 4:29 am

With the wave of social media and social networking taking the World Wide Web by storm, privacy is something of the past. And not because of an identity thief or phishing scam – we are somewhat responsible for letting the entire world into our homes and every day lives.

We upload images of our selves in the cliche profile pose with a cell phone or web cam help about 45 degrees above our head as we cheek a grin at the lense. We upload images of our pets, coworkers, family, children, jobs, schools, vacations, houses, holidays and our community. And we do not stop there. By updating the universe on what we are doing, where we are going, who we love, who we hate, what we like to do, eat, watch on TV, who we vote for, who we protest, what we think and feel and every imaginable fact about ourselves, we are voluntarily giving up some of our own personal lives and opening them up to our own sort of reality show.

There is some debate over how much social networking is positively or adversely affecting our society, but no matter what end of the debate you are on, there are some universal guidelines about how to safely update your Twitter or what upload images are appropriate for sharing with your monumental friends list.

First of all, do not reveal too much about where you live or work. It may seem like an innocent statement – the name of your employer – but you cannot assume that every person on the internet has innocent and harmless intentions. By announcing to the world where you are every day from 9 to 5, you may be inviting trouble.

Unfortunately, many social network sites may encourage you to fill out your employer in order to join group or be linked to other employees who have filled out the same information. While this is an enticing way to connect with the cute new guy in the accounting office, sending him a private message online may be safer.

Filling out your employers name is not such an obvious mistake as publishing your street address and home information. You should never display anything more than your city or state on a social network profile, and even that information might be more than you are willing to share.

The next step you can take to enjoy the buzz on your favorite social network while protecting your identity is to create an ambiguous and non-identifying username. Think about what strangers will be drawn to befriend you if they do not know who you are.

Creating a username like lovekitten01 may draw the wrong crowd to your friend request inbox. But altering it a little into something like catlady57 is not likely to send unsolicited friend requests your way.

Beyond the username and data that appears on your profile, you should carefully consider what upload images you use on your profile page. You may be tempted to put on a skimpy shirt and hold the camera at a seductive angle, but beware that this photo is likely to be seen by anyone on the internet, even if you set your profile to private.

Electing to have a private profile, viewable only by your group of friends, may hide the information within your page. You may even be able to determine which upload images are viewable by what friends, however most social networks will still display an icon of your profile photo along with a message that you profile is only viewable by your friends.

Also, you are probably telling yourself that you are not going to collect friends that you do not really know that well. But when it comes down to it, the longer you are active on a social network, the more popular you become and you will lower your guard for accepting friend requests. Do you really want everyone you have ever met to see a suggestive photo of you or read about where you live and work? Probably not.

So, before you click that upload images button, ask yourself these questions. Would I be embarrassed if my boss saw this photo. Would I want my dad to see this picture. In five years, will I regret having upload images for the world to see and share?

These are just a few practical ways to protect your privacy because the truth is, there are a lot of benefits both socially and professionally to having a social network account or two.

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