Over the past few years, Facebook has transformed from a college trend to a worldwide phenomenon in terms of users and marketing value. Users have enjoyed being able to reconnect with old friends and family members and businesses have been successful by utilizing it as a cost-efficient marketing tool. Facebook is no doubt an incredible way to communicate with others but users need to be careful and responsible for the content posted on profile pages.
Below are some general tips and rules of thumb for utilizing Facebook:
If you don't know someone, don't become his or her friend on Facebook - With the number of users on Facebook, it's easy to get people confused and chances are, you will get friend requests from people you don't know. Some people simply befriend everybody on Facebook even though they don't know most of the people they are sending out requests to and this is not the best practice for utilizing this form of social media. If you don't know someone requesting to be your friend on Facebook or vice versa, do not accept the friend request. You can usually send a message through Facebook to verify the person's identity if you want but keep your friend list to only people you know and have met. This will avoid people you don't know and might not trust getting a hold of your profile information and anything you post on there.
Watch what you post on your profile page - Freedom of speech is beautiful but understand that using Facebook to criticize someone, post inappropriate material or lash out at a business may get you in more trouble then you think. Numerous people have been let go from their jobs for criticizing their employers through Facebook posts and the same can happen to you if you are not careful. Even when you think someone will not see it, you might be surprised as to who finds what you post and it can cost you in the end. Try to avoid posting anything that might be offensive, degrading or nasty about someone because it might end up in the wrong hands.
Decide early on what type of information you want on your profile and stick to those guidelines- Some Facebook users put all kinds of information from where they currently live, their phone numbers, e-mail addresses and where they work on their profile pages. When setting up your page, decide whether or not you want users to know where you live, a number to call you or e-mail you. This will help you determine whether or not you want random people calling the number you posted on your Facebook page or sending you e-mails for similar reasons. You have the ability to control what you want people to see and decide how private you want your profile to be and stick to it. This will help prevent you from being bothered or annoyed while utilizing Facebook.
It's okay to say no in certain situations- Web-sites and web browsers have several different ways in which news articles, videos and pictures can be shared through Facebook. With the use of Smart Phones, pictures and videos can be uploaded within seconds of be taken. If you are at an event in which you could be photographed or videotaped, watch your actions and who has the camera. It's okay to decline having your photo or video footage of you taken. Chances are, it won't be the first time the professional photographer has heard that and nothing can be posted about you on another web-site if nothing is shot to begin with. Beware of who is taking pictures or video and realize it could end up on Facebook.
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