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While reading through a magazine I'm subscribe to I came across a really interesting article about Facebook, MySpace and people posting their personal information on it. Over the past year there have been a lot of stories in the news about people posting way too much of their personal information online. Then they get careless and post stuff they really shouldn't post.

Okay, fair warning folks, because I'm getting on the soapbox here. Just letting you know ahead of time.

Social networking sites are great for meeting new people (or staying in contact with old friends) and having some fun, but don't let that fun kill your career. And it CAN happen.

Watch what you post. Use common sense, fer Feth's sake! Just like in the real world there are nasty, petty, and just plain malicious people out there who LOVE to cause trouble. The Internet is not exempt from their predations.

Furthermore, just because YOU might get a big laugh out of posting a PhotoShopped picture of your best friend doing something weird, your best friend's employer or spouse might NOT see the humor at all.

Or, take this real life example. There was a police officer down in New Post Richey, Florida who worked as a school resource officer. He did a great job, helping to turn a bad school into an A-grade school in the space of a year. The kids and teachers all liked and respected him for what he was doing. Officer Nohejl came up with the idea of creating a MySpace page to communicate with students. The PTA and the police department thought it was a great idea.

The "Officer John" site was able to share safety tips with kids as well as obtain tips that helped with ongoing investigations that resulted in arrests. Then an anonymous tip told the department that one of Nohejl's "friends" offered a link that included porn photos. Another tip offered obscene comments along with other objectionable content. All of these sites could be reached through the "Officer John" site with just two or three clicks. Officer Nohejl had no idea that this was going on.

He had originally checked out the profile of the person responsible and found nothing wrong. After he had allowed the jerk on as a friend, the person re-edited their original profile and changed it so that kids could be exposed to pornography from the Officer John MySpace site.

The Florida attorney general's cybercrime task force cleared Officer Nohejl of any wrongdoing, but the damage was done. The site was shut down. All because of an anonymous jerk who wanted to torpedo and destroy something meant to assist kids in school.

Seriously folks, use common sense. The days of Internet anonymity are over. People can and ARE getting in trouble not only for what they are posting or saying or doing online, but they're also getting in trouble for what OTHER people are saying or posting or doing online. Not only are police beginning to keep a closer eye on what's going on with Facebook and MySpace, but *employers* are doing the same thing. There are people who have been *fired* because of things they've posted or stated on the Internet.

Common sense is not a luxury. It's a requirement in this day and age.