A Social Media Networking Faux Pas

It is true, everyone has their own ways and means of going about how they communicate with the outside world, but as times have moved on, it’s quite intriguing to find someone who blatantly refuses to sign up to any sort of social networking website.  Some are even just petrified at the mere mention of the internet and the ‘World Wide Web’, let alone if it involves any sort of technology and social media – perhaps they have a valid point?
 
Some people will argue that the majority of social networking is for, and aimed at young folk, but a lot, including myself would beg to differ and say there are a lot of the older generation and successful business men, women and corporations etc. who regularly use social media networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn the list goes on.  Even my 92 year old grandmother being no exception!  We could collectively say, “Networking sites have made it possible for some of us to find and connect with old friends, family and business acquaintances.”  So yes, when used well, it’s great.  Other advantages include the fact that you can literally stay in touch with people on a regular basis, what with `like’ buttons and `comment boxes’, so even if you don’t want to speak to them, you don’t have to – well verbally anyway! But mind you the feeling might be mutual.
 
I’ve noticed however, that the one thing that people constantly get wrong when they register on these sites is that, they don’t actually take the time to read and make use of the `privacy setting’ feature thoroughly enough.  A lot of people (sorry, especially the not so young folk) tend to unintentionally leave themselves quite exposed that it is almost easy to pin point their exact location at any time.  Whether that be on their way to the airport for a much needed break or by openly advertising what time they’re due back from the shops.
 
Earlier on this week, whilst I was doing some company updates on Facebook, I noticed a friend of a friends status update which basically read, “The doctor has confirmed my little boy has got ‘Hand, Foot and Mouth”.  Along with a few comments from friends empathizing with the situation, others had just decided to be Facebook’s very own Dr Remedy, with comments on how it happened to them before, to what the best cure was.  Thank god she was only a friend of a friend and I have no direct contact with her I say! Scarily though, later on whilst speaking to my friend I found out that half the people who had commented on the post weren’t even on her friend list – her `status’ had been set to `Public’- ouch!
 
Though there are many benefits to social media networking in terms of mass communication of service messages, marketing, digital sales and the like’s one must always remember that it can also be pretty intrusive too, and once information gets into the wrong hands, we all know what could potentially happen from there.  So the moral of the story is, be careful on social networking sites, do it well, be thorough and most importantly keep safe and check your settings – often!