Protecting your privacy on social networking sites...

With the invention of MySpace and the vast amounts of other social networking sites, the entire landscape of the Internet universe has changed. People freely connect with long lost companions or meet new people that share similar interests; this allows a once distant community to come together.

With this power, also comes risk. Many people join social networking sites and openly post personal information such as birth dates, or post photos of their personal lives. A new breed of criminal has also evolved with social networking; one that can break down privacy barriers and research their prey by visiting their MySpace of Facebook pages and learning just about everything they could ever want to know.

Maintaining your privacy and avoiding identity fraud are not difficult things to accomplish, but do require some common sense. Many people post more information than needed, letting people know everything possible without having to even know who this person is. Many sites have been created to help users protect their social networking privacy, but a few important tips to remember when considering what information you want available to the world include:

• Providing just enough information. You want your friends to be able to locate and contact you, but you don't need to put your entire life story so that anyone with eyes and a PC can learn everything about you.
• Making your profile private so that only people you have befriended can view the information and photos. Some sites allow networks of people to view your information, but a user should consider limiting their private information just to their friends.
• Be wary when adding external applications. For the most part don't add any, and if you do already use some be sure to keep only the ones you actually do use on a consistent basis. These apps are developed by outside parties that have no affiliation with the site, and most likely do not include any sort of privacy policy.
• Do not use the same password for your social networking sites that you would to access your e-mail or any sites that contain personal information, such as banking sites.
• Frequently check the privacy policies for any changes that may concern you.
• THE GOLDEN RULE: Never assume something you post on the Internet is completely private. If someone wants the information badly enough, they will find it. Always use common sense when posting sensitive information on a website.