Facebook... Really?

Many years back I wanted to play Farmville but didn't want to create an account on Facebook but, I had no choice. So, I jumped into the Facebook arena and added my name to the long list of FB users… Remember, all I wanted to do was play Farmville, why? I don’t really know.  I digress… My thoughts about FB were this, “Only people with self-esteem issues or Narcissists use FB.” And do I really want to hear a friend or family member drone on and tell me all about their delicious baked Ziti recipes.  But I started to look and post and truth be told it was fun at times, to be able to see the changes in people who I hadn't seen for many years was a cathartic thing to some degree.  

Well, being a conspiracy theorist (No, he was born in America, I’ll give you that one J), I rarely put out too much data about myself or family and truly marveled at the people who would.  Not to mention all the risky pictures that they would post of themselves in, um… odd predicaments.  I would always tell my nephew.  “Dude, stop with the pics of you binge drinking with friends… it will come back to haunt you, that information is no longer yours and you can never get it back.” He could never really understand what I meant.  I’m just an old guy who is outta touch.  

As time went on I started to get a bit bored of FB and stopped all together.  I have wanted several times to delete my account but wanted to be able to keep in touch with old friends and like the fact that I could reach them in this fashion, but I really do hate my information still being out in the ether…  Someone with skills could get ahold of that data that FB says is private and do nefarious things with it.  Sure enough, just yesterday, I read the following article written by Jose Pagilery from CNNMoney, titled 2 Million Facebook Gmail and Twitter passwords stolen in massive hack. Here is the story by the way.  I will let you read the story and make your own conclusions but needless to say, sometimes, your data isn't always safe and yes nephew, I am right.  I truly hope that I or one of my FB friends were NOT part of that hack… 

Parting shots: Like I told my nephew, once you put something on the internet, it is out there for everyone to see, copy and use against you, especially if you are vying for a job, this can kill your chances.  It shouldn't but it can.  Limit your exposure to risk and keep your data to yourself.  Like Gandalf said to Frodo.. "Keep it secret, keep it safe."