For those who aren't familiar, BQOTD stands for "Big Question of the Day." (La Buena Vida does a lot of these.)
So, what do you think about posting personal information on public chat boards or Facebook? By personal information, I mean last name, address, workplace information, birth dates, etc...
I've had two experiences with this that stick out in my mind:
The first was on The Nest, a portal for newlyweds that hosts a number of chat boards on various topics. After my husband and I bought our first house, I joined the Nest and was a "regular" on the Decorating & Renovating (fondly known as D&R) board. By creating an account and logging in, you get extras that the public doesn't. However, anyone can go to the chat board, read the posts, see photos posted, and click on any links provided. So, even though posters generally have a screen name that is not their first/last name, their posts, photos, and links can expose this information to anyone.
People would post a photo of their ultrasound -- with their full name in the corner of the photo. Someone said what town they lived in and another asked what part of town. The original poster basically gave the street intersection. A lot of people have links to their personal blogs, which can certainly contain a lot of personal information.
The second place I've experienced this is Facebook. Granted, most people (although not all) have completely private profiles and the general public can't get to information such as workplace, address, birth dates, etc...
A lot of people also post on Facebook things such as, "Entire family is gone to the mall!" or "Leaving on vacation for three weeks."
So, what are your thoughts about this? Talk to me.
When I was on the nest, I never posted personal information... on Facebook, its all out there... but a lot of that has to do with my business as well. Having my phone number posted and email address posted is essential for people to be able to contact me. My facebook profile is on lock down. However, if people wanted to search hard enough, they could find out address and phone number easily. I'm ok with it, but I'm generally an open person.
ReplyDeleteThe Nest was goofy, people really wanted to spill each other's beans (when they knew info they weren't going to share yet) or freak other's out with personal info like their address. That's why I haven't been on there for at least 2 years. Wackos.
ReplyDeleteFacebook, I feel it's different. Maybe I shouldn't. Facebook friends should really be people that you know/knew of, or trust even if you don't know them in real life. I also think everyone's page should be set to "friends only". That being said, I think FB is more of a friendly matter since at least once upon a time you knew the person.
Although I have seen a few times when someone did the location thing thru their phone saying were they were and it's someone's house. I see that rarely. One time I saw it was my best friend's sister in law's posts saying "Is at my mom's" and it shows the map and address. Well the mom lives with my best friend and her husband. I texted her right away and told her she should tell her to remove that.
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