Facebook, should we stay away from this social networking site?

Most of the world is on Facebook nowadays. It’s been around for years now, and you can look up anybody, or pretty much anything on Facebook. Company’s are on Facebook, big corporations, clubs, schools, anything and everything is on Facebook. While it is useful to connect with anything and everything you would like, is it a good thing? Well let’s really look into it and find out…!

Facebook and tagging. Your friends put up pictures. A lot of them. Hey, even you put up pictures. It could be from the night you went to your friends wedding. So what, you went to a wedding, big deal? But you let yourself go that night and got so trashed at that wedding; you look like a mess in all the pictures! So you quickly untagged yourself! Oh my god, your co-workers will see, maybe even your boss! AND you were so trashed, you smoked a cigarette and its in the pictures! Okay, this scenario isn’t that bad, all you have to do is untag yourself! But…who knows who saw those pictures while you were still tagged in them.

BUT…everyone else that is friends with my friend can still see the picture I untagged! You can always report the picture as spam, which I think does nothing anyway. I’ve tried it with my friend and sister’s Facebook’s. They still had pictures up of my ex and me, I had to get rid of those horrid things, and I did but no one else would! I tried telling them to take the pictures off, and they obviously never got to do it, so then I tried reporting them. Nope, nothing happened, I still see the random pictures up sometimes on the side of the page, and I’m like darn it!

Since everyone can see pictures of you, even pictures your friends have you tagged in, random people you don’t know can stalk you out. Yep, its true. Some people forget to put their profile on private, or they just don’t care and low and behold strangers will stalk your profile and pictures. Your friend’s friend can look at all your stuff. It doesn’t sound that bad, but it kind of is. Do you really want a stranger ogling at your pictures, and then possibly finding out more information about you? Be careful about this and try to privatize your page…!

You think your relationship with your best friend or sister is so close since you Facebook them everyday. Well I got news for you, it isn’t! Just because you Facebook them does not mean anything! You think you are being social but you are actually not being social whatsoever! Not in a real way at least. What happened to the good old telephone call or seeing each other and having coffee to catch up?! Instead nowadays, people feel better and closer to people just because they are keeping up to date with them through Facebook and looking at pictures and sharing pictures with each other. Pictures don’t mean a thing! We can all look happy and dandy in pictures and really be going through some tough problems, so if you really care about your friends or family, don’t just communicate with them through Facebook!

EVERYONE will be in your business. I think this applies if you let it. Don’t put up statuses of where you are every 5 seconds and then no one will know! Simple as that. And don’t start complaining that everyone knows everything about you, if you’re the one putting your business all over your statuses every 5 seconds! Be careful of what you put on your Facebook, you must pick and choose carefully what information you want to share with people. There are plenty of stalkers out there that can easily access your information if you let them as well as scammers trying to steal your information for identity theft use! Don't let it happen to you!!

Be careful of what email you use for Facebook. I say this because people can look you up through your email, if you allow them to. I don’t like this idea, because that means your employers can find you, and do you really want them looking at your pictures and all the fun you have? I use an email that no one knows and I actually have 2 Facebook’s! I don’t want any of my co-workers and bosses looking at my pictures of me going out with my friends!

Be wary of who you friend. My last job, TWO people got fired and tried to get unemployment. Even though they weren’t friends with their boss, they did friend other employees and because of that they couldn’t get unemployment. They posted nonsense on their statuses, saying stuff about how they quit their job and were happy without it and blah blah, so my boss found out and somehow used it against them and it worked! I don’t even think until this day those 2 people know that they didn’t get unemployment because of their own Facebook usage.

Employers are now asking their employees for their Facebook passwords, and if you refuse it or even give it you may lose your job! I couldn’t believe it when I heard about this. That’s why I’m so happy my Facebook is so private, you can’t even look me up! People also don’t get hired sometimes because of their Facebook, so you really have to be careful nowadays of what you put on the Internet!

Facebook can ruin your relationship and any relationship! With all these stupid likes and pokes and stalking of people’s pictures, Facebook can cause many fights and jealous rages among you and your partner, so if your taken, you should try to respect your partner by not participating in stupid-ness on Facebook. Don’t go liking every girls picture with a bathing suit on, if you have a girlfriend. Don’t comment “sexy” on someone’s picture if it’s not your girlfriend. If people flirt with you on Facebook tell them you are taken. Don’t put half naked pictures up on Facebook if you don’t want attention, and the list will go on. Basically respect your partner, even while using Facebook, because if you’re not respecting them, then they will eventually find out, and why are you in a relationship anyway?

You can also get into fights with your friends through Facebook. I know someone that posted a picture of herself and someone commented "nice cellulite" on it, imagine how embarrassing! They don't talk anymore. Or people blow up others spots on Facebook for some reason, it is so stupid but be careful what kind of friends you have and if they would write about you on Facebook. Some people like drama and don't care, so watch yourselves!

Facebook can be addicting, almost like a drug! This is for those crazy Face-bookers who check it every 5 seconds. It can be addicting if you check it constantly. In college, all I used to see on the students laptops while the professor was lecturing, is people on their Facebook! Even me, I used to check my phone all day whenever I got Facebook notifications, until I realized that it wasn't right and interfering with my college studies, so I deactivated it. Now that I'm back on, I check it every once in a while, not nearly as much as I used to.

It can be a MAJOR distraction! Forget about school, even while you are with your friends or family and your constantly checking Facebook, that's a problem. Don't do it! Forget about it for a while. I's annoying when your checking your Facebook and your friends or family are trying to spend time with you, and it's not right on your part, so stop!

Private, private, private! It is very simple to privatize your Facebook, but you have to really make everything private. Only allow your friends to see your pictures. Make sure the settings are not set to your friend’s friends as well.

Make your name and e-mail unsearchable. When I found this out, it was like god’s gift to me. No one can search me if they know my name, and I love it.

Change your name! My real name is not on Facebook. I changed it years ago. I couldn’t have my real name on Facebook if employers were going to try to look for me. Now, my Facebook is not that bad, but I do have pictures of me at bars/ clubs and do I want my employers to see these? NO way! So, it’s a miracle they can’t because I tell them I don’t have a Facebook and therefore even if they try to search for me they can’t!

Don’t put too much information on your profile page. You’re description on your page may contain too much information which may come up on searches. If you don’t want people to know you have a Facebook at work, yet you put down where you work on Facebook, then you better take it off! Like I said a billion times before, be careful what you put on your page!

OH! AND DO NOT PUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER OR ADRESS ON YOUR PAGE! I will never understand why anyone would do this in the first place...

Facebook does have its perks, though! You can connect with people from all over the world, long lost cousins, old friends, etc. You can promote your business through Facebook which many people do. You can find out a lot of information on Facebook if you take the time to browse. Facebook can be a fun site for all sorts of connections, if you use it right!

So, Facebook isn’t really all that bad, it’s just important to know that the world can see your Facebook so we all should be careful of what we put on there. We have to live and work, and if Facebook were to affect whether you got a job or not, then we all better be wary of this and try our best to minimize the possibility of not getting that job. But, otherwise the Internet and Facebook can be great things, if we know how to utilize them correctly!