Facebook Follies

Did you see the CBC documentary called "Facebook Follies" ?

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/episode/facebook-follies.html

Here I was thinking that I have all my privacy settings to "Friends only" so I am safe!  Well apparently not!  This program showed several experts including the security firm that monitors Facebook, (yes they can see everyone's content), as well as stories about the good and bad things that happen when you post on facebook.

I learned:

• photos and comments remain on the web forever, and if your friends chose to copy and paste them elsewhere, that may surprise you when they turn up 10 years from now.   I do feel sorry for the young man who tried to run for provincial politics, only to have to withdraw because of old high school photos that resurfaced.  It didn't matter that he now had a university degree and was a good citizen, all that made the news was the old photos.   
• I am thankful there were no cameras around when I did stupid stuff in high school, (I mean I might have done something stupid once.....), luckily I can just leave that in my past, unless one of my friends wants to joke about it.  Today's teenagers are never going to be allowed to forget, there are cameras everywhere, and once that photo makes the internet, it is there for your future to see!  Back in the day (never thought I'd be old enough to say that phrase)  when we went clubbing, cameras were not allowed in a bar or night club, now they all have websites that post photos & videos of their customers partying!
• How many friends do you have in real life that you can truly trust? How does that number compare to your number of friends on facebook?
• Say you can safely trust all your friends on facebook, well what about the people they share their facebook page with? You cannot possibly know all the people who could see your facebook page, never mind trusting them!
• So don't post things like photos while you are on vacation, or even comment about being on vacation or looking forward to vacation, etc.  Wait til you get home.  You may not have your address on facebook but it is easy to find in a phone book or google search.  Thieves know what to look for and will take advantage of this easy opportunity!
• I loved the good story, of Kelly Hildebrant meeting and later marrying her husband, Kelly Hildebrant, just by searching her name one night, and contacting this cute guy with the same name as her.  Also loved Conan O'Brien's comment "record number of guys change their name to Megan Fox"