PCMag.Com - Congressman's Anthony Weiner's very public downfall had all the earmarks of a memorable and salacious scandal. He was a rising political star, she a porn star with some tech savvy. Together they shared one or more promiscuous, and Weiner thought, private online exchanges that would be his undoing. Weiner made a host of mistakes, but was mostly felled by astoundingly bad misjudgment about social interaction on the Web. What happened to former Congressman Weiner is, without a doubt, a cautionary tale, but it should also serve as a lesson in for everyone about social media. Here are 10 tips to help you avoid your own personal Weinergate.1) Don't assume your digital correspondence is private.
Our memories are faulty. What we see and hear is often misheard, or misremembered. Computers have perfect memories. What you say online, what you post, is a perfect reproduction of the original. It can all be saved, it can all be retrieved or recovered (Google Search, in particular, can index everything). Facebook, e-mails, instant messages, Twitter DMs can all, one way or the other, be copied and shared.
2) Don't post anything you don't want others to see.
Congressman Anthony Weiner perfected the "take a picture in the mirror" pose. He always held the smarphone in just the right place and had his body posed just so. It's a gift. The most common photo you see on Facebook of most America teens is also the mirror shot. Thankfully, most photos are tame, but we've all seen enough leaked naughty pics of starlets to know that people just can't resist the temptation to share a saucy photo with their current paramour. If you don't want your parents, friends and co-workers to see these shots—don't take them and don't share them with anyone.
3) Manage your privacy settings.
No one is going to stop using social networks, so let's at least close up the Swiss-cheese-like security holes in each of them. Services like Facebook often start out in sharing mode. You want dig in and make sure that what you do share to your Facebook friends cannot be shared outside your social circle. Groups, by the way, are a good thing and will help you and your friends keep the conversation to a chosen few. In Flickr, a service that will share first, you have to remember to restrict photo viewing to friends and family.
4) Share with fewer people.
Twitter, Facebook, even good old fashioned e-mail, make it super-simple to share thoughts with larger and larger groups of people. Many on Twitter actively seek to grow their lists of followers so they can share more to many. It's a wonderful thing, until you accidentally share the thing you never wanted to with everyone. Look at your lists of Friends, e-mail contacts and lists, Twitter followers and start culling. Cut the lists down and start sharing less with a much more trusted group of people. More
