I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely LOVE Facebook.  I can keep up to date with my friends lives, network, send an old friend a bumber sticker to make her smile, so on and so forth.  Yes, I'll admit, it's a bit strange when someone I haven't talked to in years "friends" me on Facebook, but I don't mind it in the least.  Facebook, after all, is a networking website.  That person is simply reaching out to an old classmate because you never know what the connection between the two of us will bring.  Perhaps I work in a field that she is interested.  BAM, our Facebook friendship will allow me to help her further her career, and that's great.  After all, isn't that one of the reasons we all write on hubpages, to let our work be seen?  Indeed it's one of the reasons, or else we'd simply stick to writing in our leather journals (which I know you all have)!  Facebook is a connecting tool and I fully support seeking out your old friends and being social via this great website; however, there are a few things that some Facebookers do are simply things NOT to be done on Facebook.

Here's a simple rule to live by when posting photographs of yourself and allowing yourself to be tagged in photographs: if you wouldn't show them to your parents, you're not going to want to show them to the Facebook community. Employers and Co-workers can and will get a hold of these pictures and you will be fired for them. Unfair? Maybe. But putting these pictures on the internet gives employers the right to find them. You've made you're own bed, so enjoy sleeping in it.

I do not understand the need to put your cell phone number on Facebook.  You wouldn't give your phone number out to a random guy in a bar.  In fact, you would most likely give him a fake phone number.  Why then would you post your phone number on the internet for all guys you've met at bars to see?  This isn't safe and it doesn't make sense to me.  If someone needs your phone number, they'll ask you for it.  Keep those digits to yourself! 

I write the occasional "love you" on my boyfriend's wall.  I'm sorry, I admit it; however, that doesn't bother me.  To me, this equates to a kiss on the cheek when we are parting ways in public.  What does bother me is the Shakespearean love stories that occur on Facebook.  I see girls and guys alike pour their hearts out to their significant other via facebook wall.  Gentleman, please don't get the idea that this is romantic.  This is not romantic, it's rather amateur and quite embarrassing.  I wouldn't want you screaming your undying love for me in a restaurant so please don't express your unending love for me online.  No one needs to see your undying love.  It's not cute, it's obnoxious.  I'm glad that you're happy, I really am.  But if you were that happy, wouldn't you be content with...uh...just the two of you knowing about it? 

Please people, Facebook is not Twitter.  I do not care what you're doing every thirty minutes.  Accordingly, please stop taking yourself SO seriously.  "Ashley is floating in a cloud of ecstasy because she just published a new hub," is a really annoying status update.  Don't I sound like a tool starved for attention in that status update?  Yes, I do.  Go ahead and admit it.  Your updates sound the same when when you try to be insanely prolific.  This is Facebook, people, you're not writing the next Grapes of Wrath for goodness sake! 

Really?  Need I say more?  Facebook isn't yellow pages, people (and not many people are even listed there anymore)!  Stay safe and keep your living space information on a need to know basis, not on a need to friend request basis. 

Facebook has come up with a number of ways to stay safe in this online community.  You can adjust your settings so not everyone can see everything you post on your pages.  You can mark things private, block people, the list goes on and on.  Here are two good links about Facebook safety.