As the growing landscape of Social Media continues to unfold, new and difficult challenges arise for us to deal with.
Facebook, is by-far the most prominent of all the social networking sites, with the largest saturation and user-base for non-geeky internet types. The site is used by many for as wide a set of uses as you can imagine, with third-party apps, groups and causes flooding your home screen daily.
I personally use Facebook as a reference point for friends and family to keep me in touch with and available to people I might not email or call regularly.
Facebook as been constantly in the public eye for a host of reasons regarding security, privacy and even human rights, but this week I had a entirely new Facebook experience.
Its not uncommon for people to use online networking communities to gather research on individuals, but this is usually limited to the privacy rules set by the individual along with the relevant site, i.e. – you could use Facebook to research somebody, but only if they have privacy set so low that they want the outsied world to get a view of what they are doing.
Rarely, if ever, would you expect to have your details and information surveyed if you believe you have set all the correct measures in place to secure yourself.
Unless someone you know hands over THEIR login details to a third-party to allow them to profile and research you…. which is what happened to me.
Now, all joking aside, I dont have any dirt to be gleamed by hacking my Facebook account, and I wasn’t being hacked maliciously, nor where the perpetrators seeking to base a highly important career decision based on what they found. But they did circumvent one of the most basic privacy protection measures we all have – our own individual login details, and that blew a hole in my personal privacy the size of the Grand Canyon.
What im saying here is;
Dont under-estimate the control you have of your own privacy, and dont EVER give out your login and password details to ANYONE !
Between media scare-mongering and the onslaught of malicious hackers, its ever-more important to keep yourself secure online. Use each part of the internet for its intended purpose, research and find out about how the site or application works and then configure your own settings to meet your needs.
Dont let the technology get the better of you – its a tool there to aid in the achievement of something and used the correct way will provide huge benefits.
But use it safely and confidently. 
