In the past, oh probably… six months.  I have been tossing up the idea of deleting my Facebook account, and the ever so dead Myspace accounts.  More for the reason that I do not use them.  However the only reason I keep them is to keep my self in touch with the people who may be looking for me.  The more places your name is, the easier it is to find you.

The other issue with these services that frustrates me, is the things people post to them.  This post is a long time comming and I finally have to write it.  So here goes…

Everyone who is old enough to get a job, What is the one thing you can count on filling out on an application besides your name, contact info, and social security number? References! Every employer / potential employer asks for references.  And when I am talking employer I mean the company doing the hiring, down to the clients that you may serve in that term of employment.

However this is so everly fast changing.  Yeah they still ask for you to give references, but the internet is a big reference now and days. And that is increasing more and more.  My brother created a website for John Flinchbaugh Photography,  This is a marketing effort, however whether he knows it or not, It is a referencing effort also. When you search google for “John Flinchbaugh Photography” you return the following results

The #1 result is his photography site, so that when people are looking for information on his photography they can find it.  They don’t find a comment he has on his facebook account about the latest beer that he tried. (This is just an example my brother does not have a facebook)

I did a number of searches for peoples first name, last name with quotes around it. So say “Matthew Flinchbaugh” for example, looks for links that have Matthew Flinchbaugh together, not Matthew on one part of the page, and Flinchbaugh somewhere else on the page. This gives you exact results you are looking for.  So a Google search for “Matthew Flinchbaugh” returns

My question is what comes up when someone searches your name?  Does it link to your networking sources that show what you are capable of, and certificates you have.  Or, is it that wild facebook comment that you left about the party you were at the night before and how drunk you got, and it made you late for work in the morning.  Because you were hung over.

Which would you rather have your future employer/partner/client see? How bout your parents/family/kids? Yes kids, I don’t care if you are 40 or if your 8, what people need to start realizing is, what you post on the internet may be there for a very very long time. If not forever. For example back when alot of us started on the internet there was a place many website were maintained and hosted called Geocities.com alot of pages had been abandoned and long forgotten, how ever what if that was your site, with your name plastered all over it.  Well you say “Hell its gone now, created, forgotten, and now deleted.” Wrong!!!!!! Welcome ReoCities.com! ReoCities.com along with other companies archived everything they could before Yahoo! turned out the lights to Geocities. So now the first personal pages, club pages and what not still have a home on the net. They may have been forgotten but they are not lost.

What I am getting at is what you post on the internet be it a form of website, or a blog/tweet/wall message, or comment may be forgotten, but can come back to bite you in the rear.

Schools have banned teachers & staff from having the popular social accounts, and the biggest reason is people do not comprehend what they are putting out there for everyone’s eyes to see.  And by everyone I mean everyone and anyone with access to the net. People who are not even born yet may find these posts, down the road and when you are trying to teach your kid to not drink under age or smoke under age, who knows if they say mommy you did it when you were my age…. See!!!! Just because it is marked private does not mean its private.

Don’t post what you don’t want everyone to know. If you get mad because some one responds to your post about what you did while you were away from your husband/wife, or you make a comment and someone confronts you about it. Would you get mad? Then don’t put it out there. I’m not gonna say don’t voice your opinion that is the great thing about the net. Everyones opinion is voiced. But if you work for a company are family members don’t dish out an insult about your work or family if you can take what comes of it.

If what you say causes you to loose a friend, a family member, or lose a job, Don’t complain to me I’ve voiced my opinion, and my recommendation.

Ultimately don’t say what you later will regret saying. No matter when that regret may come.