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Be careful who you let into your virtual home.
SUMMARY
Social networking isn't what it used to be. Today, your friends online aren't like your friends in real life. You must be careful what information you post online and with whom you share it.
Social networking used to mean physically going to a location to gather and speak with real live peopie. When you were introduced to a new person, it was through legitimate friends. John would say, "Bob, this is my friend Joe. We go way back; he's a good guy." And because we knew and trusted John, this introduction went a long way.
This is the "ideal" premise behind virtual (online) social networking - that we will accept the friends of others based on their recommendation. But the fly in the ointment is that computer programming can't get the subtleties or accuracies of human behavior. The computer program says, "Bob and John are linked. Bob and Joe are linked. Therefore Joe and John should be linked."
Let's take Facebook as an example. When it is suggested that you might want to be "friends" with Joe, it doesn't tell you that John is only linked to Bob because John accepted his "friendship" because Bob was friends with Mary who was friends with John's ex-wife who he keeps up with on Facebook because of the...