Internet has made information so accessible that if someone is looking for it, it is readily available at all times. Google has become a verb and life’s so easy with information a couple of clicks away, I wonder why did they have books in the first place! I realized in the past few weeks that it was much easier to find out what’s happening around you, by using twitter! For those who joined us late, Twitter is a website that lets users share 140 character messages with the entire world.

Unlike SMS, twitter is a broadcast service. SMS is meant for an intended list of recipients, while twitter messages are for everyone to see, making it public, and therefore social! It is funny the way the meaning and definition of ‘Social’ has changed. Anything, which is not private, can be considered Social. The more open you are, the more Social you are.

If you can share the dirtiest of your secrets in public, chances are that you will have a good fan following!

Websites like Facebook, MySpace etc have brought everything in the users’ life in public domain, all in the name of Social. It is easy for people to know things about others that otherwise would never be in the public domain.

What makes life worse is the number of companies that use the API of these Web Applications. In user language, these companies are providers of the numerous quizzes, cute quotes, comparison reports, photo tools, games and all that jazz on Facebook and MySpace.

People continuously add these applications, opening up their profiles to the providers, and also allowing the provider to access the information of all their friends.

This means that if I want to protect my profile from potential spammers, ID thieves or just want to keep my private life private, I will have to ask my friends to not use these applications. With the increasing number of people getting on to the Social Networks, it gets all the more difficult to keep a tab on how and where can your information be distributed. Currently, I do not know how many people read the TOS and Privacy Policy and all the other fine print of these applications. I think most people don’t even realize that these parts require any attention.

The next posts will have the details of protecting profiles in Facebook for a start.

Please protect yourself and help others.

I was trying to look for a nice template for Zen Cart, which I have installed for the new domain, ITShopIndia.com. This site is supposed to be a place where the buyers of Computer parts and Accessories can connect directly with the suppliers and manufacturers and get products at wholesale prices. I reached the site of Kuroi Web Design, which has demos of free Zen-Cart templates. To appreciate the service by Kuroi Web Design, I decided to Tweet the page using Twitthis. I started to browse the top twitted pages and found a nice article by Seth Godin, the marketing guru. Phew!

The article is about personal branding and the Google effect. It talks about three people who applied for a job and how Google revealed the truth behind their claims. It is important to realize that privacy has a new meaning in the Internet era. People may think that they can disconnect their lives by not signing up to FaceBook, Orkut, MySpace and the likes, but it is not true.

Recently, I was seeing my own profile on FaceBook and realized that someone had tagged me in a photo. With over 2 billion photos uploaded, almost everyone in the world who has ever been clicked must have been tagged at least once, or will be tagged soon. It is true that you can restrict people from tagging you in pictures but you need to have a FaceBook profile for that!

You need to be on the network to ensure that you are not on the network!

It is difficult to remain behind closed doors when there is someone on the prowl all the time. The crawling spiders will not let any stone unturned. It is better that you are in control of the situation and manage your Online Profile judiciously. Even if you consider your privacy very important, just ensure that you have a decent public profile available to those who seek it, lest they will have to settle for what is made available to them.