First there was Myspace. A “place for friends” quickly elevated to notoriety with reports of fourteen-year-old girls being raped and killed by men they met on the site, and our nation became immediately concerned with the welfare of our youth. So the site increased security, offering private settings so that the photos of your preteen drunk and half naked can only be seen by people approved by her. Voila, everything’s peachy. And then there was Facebook…

Once strictly a social site for college students, Facebook.com grew to include high school students and is now open to the general public. Whereas you once needed to be approved into a college network and provide a university email address on the site, now anyone can join who provides a name and an address from any server like hotmail or yahoo. So now creepy people all over the world can once gain have access to not-so-safety-savvy young people. Great.

But the aspect of the site which I find the most disconcerting is a tool called the “newsfeed.” Simply by logging on, I can see the actions of anyone on my friends list. Katie is no longer listed as a relationship? I’ll be among the first to know of the breakup. Matt posted new pictures? I can see that he spent the night at a pretty crazy keg party. Similarly, my friends can see if I’ve made plans to attend an event, made any changes in photos, added a personal address or phone number for the world to see(!), commented on a friend’s photo, joined a group, written on the “wall” of someone’s page, become friends with a new person, and many other personal things. Thankfully, I have the option of preventing any or all of this information form appearing on the newsfeed, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the least often utilized tools on the site. What ever happened to the good old days when to stalk someone you actually had to get in your car, drive to their house and hide in their bushes? Facebook simply makes it too easy…

The bottom line is that if you’re going to make yourself accessable online, you need to be aware of how to do it safely. A page where you can talk to your friends and post cute pictures from dinners at TGIFridays? Awesome, go for it. Posting your home phone number and accepting a friend request from an unknown thirty-year-old, network-less guy who “saw you around and just had to say hi”? Probably a bad idea. Staying safe should always be among your top priorities- you owe it to yourself. Remember this the next time you log on so that, if nothing else, you can at least keep those pictures of you dancing to “Glamorous” in a pink boa and crown from ending up in the wrong hands.