Double-edged sword. That's what Social Media—Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Foursquare, and the rest—is about.

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I'm supposed to get to bed when I bumped into a Facebook status of a friend saying something like, "I'm alone. Scared." That caught my attention really, not because it's an interesting "fact" or status to find out from a friend but because of the security issue in it.

And so I replied and reminded her "not to post such kind of status" again because a stalker out there can easily just plan for something. She replied saying that her father, mother, and sisters are there with her. She said it's the movie that she's scared about.

So I answered back and told her that she just made it easier for people to get into her house because she just broadcasted a headcount! She replied by thanking me, which I hope she got the message before thanking me.

Now, the conversation is in a thread or comment stream. Imagine how many people can read such "thread" or conversation! My knowledge gives me at least 250 random friends in your network are notified about the posts or conversation.

In Facebook, one you update your status, you're broadcasting to the world. When you "Like" something or comment on a status, you become part of the "thread" and if your "Notification Setting" would allow you to "get email notification once someone posted a comment... or something" then you automatically receive whatever is discussed.

I'm sharing this story because I believe that there are information or "statuses" that we can just post in the Internet for reasons such as security and Internet reputation.
<blockquote>In my book, <strong>The Internet Marketing Handbook</strong>, I dedicated one chapter on Social Media. If you'd like to have a copy, please contact us and we will be happy to arrange things for you.</blockquote>
So there you have it! Be careful about what you post in the web. It can hurt you.