Dangers of social networking

As society evolves and new ways of communicating information become available to us, the playing field changes in many ways. More shared information can lead to new security challenges, and it is important that we recognize the danger that exists and stay vigilant.

Many of us are into using social networking sites for business as well as pleasure. A brief post on a social network every now and then can keep your family and friends up to date on the day-to-day news that you want to share. Using these networks is also a way to get to know people who are relevant to the business that you are in. You can market your goods or services and learn about what others have to offer. All in all, social networking is fun and useful in a number of different ways.

The whole idea of social networking is to provide transparency. You are saying to your contacts that you are a real, genuine human being and a slice of your life with them. When you have a business and your customers can read what you are up to as a person as well as a company, it can and does enhance customer loyalty. Many very successful businesses are using social networking sites like Twitter to make this personal connection with their customers, and the phenomena is expanding by the day.

Here is the rub: if you tell your social network that you are going away on a vacation for a couple of weeks, and you don’t know everyone who is, say, following you on Twitter (and few of us do), you are giving away a very useful piece of information for anyone who robs houses for a living. It is true that they may not know where you live, but if your profile has your full name, depending on what it is and where you live, they may be able to put two and two together.

This happened to a Twitter user who lives in Arizona was recently robbed while he was out of town, and he is convinced that it is because he alerted his 2,000 or so followers that he was gone. He uses Twitter to promote his video business, and the thieves took his video gear but left all of his other valuables behind. It seemed to him that they knew he was gone and they knew that he owned a lot of valuable video equipment by reading his Twitter tweets, and that was all it took.

Personally I think that transparency is good for the most part, and one bad apple doesn’t spoil the bunch. But, incidents like these do demonstrate the need to use common sense when you are releasing personal information to your social networks. You can keep it real, but don’t give out so much information that you are putting yourself at risk.