If you are reading this post because I left you a link to this post as a redirect on some social networking site AND don’t want to read about dangers posed by social networking sites,  you can directly skip to the last section of this post,  under the heading ‘Detour’.
if either of the two conditions are not met,  you can go through the full post!

Today was another one of those rare days when I logged into my facebook account.   Couldn't help wondering why I still keep it,  considering how less I use it.   I also get the odd 'You never reply to my messages/wall postings blah blah.. and will continue to do so for as long as I keep the profile and not be active.  I heard from somebody that you can't truly delete your account,  that it still stays archived on facebook's servers or something like that.   Makes one wonder when a casual comment/status update will come back to haunt you even ages later!  A random google search often pops up interesting and sometimes embarrassing information which brings us to that ever-alive question:  Do people even realize the importance of things that they say or put up on sites? 

It's nice when somebody 'remembers' your birthday thanks to an update on a social networking site,  but do people realize that the same information can also be used by scamsters and fraudsters?  I registered onto a Formula 1 racing related site just to express my solidarity to a particular team and to probably post a couple of entries on various topics related to F1, and what did I get?  A bunch of offers for paid sex from other 'members' and the biggest shock:  A google sweep showed all my personal details including full date of birth right out in the open!  Thanks to the website's don't-care-a-damn attitude towards user privacy and information security,  my details are probably going to be available on google forever (or for the duration for which google maintains it's cached entries).  My details would still not disappear even if I deleted the account in question.  Do people realize this when they post all manner of information on the net?

When anybody joins a mailing list,  an online forum or a social networking page,  they ought to do so with full understanding of its implications on privacy.  A site might not tell you that any and all information that you put up on their site,  including on your so called 'private' profile may well be available to just about anybody who knows how to use a search engine.   Be informed!  Ignorance is not always bliss.
Wait a minute!  In the previous paragraph,  I said "My details would still not disappear even if I deleted the account in question".
How is that possible?  Aren't a user's details along with his/her entire account supposed to just disappear into a blackhole the minute he/she presses the 'Delete Profile' button and confirms?  That's not how it really works. 

Search engines like google 'cache' results of earlier searches and certain random sweeps.  Have you ever wondered how it is that what you have posted in a mailing list or on a blog makes it to google?  Or for that matter how google finds anything at all in the first place?
The short and sweet explanation of how it does is something like this:  Search engines like google have automated programs called bots (sometimes referred to as spiders) which keep roaming around the internet,  'sampling' and sometimes storing complete backups of all information that they come across,  online.  Thanks to the fact that these search providers often have fantastically humongous 'data storage' capabilities,  they can virtually remember everything their bots ever encounter.  Often,  it's possible to access all contents of a website,  even after the website itself has ceased to exist,  simply because many search providers provide access to 'cached' information,  a snapshot of data taken at some point in the past.  Now that you know this,  how can you better protect your privacy? 

1) Don't ever provide information that can be used by scamsters/fraudsters to defraud you.  Do you list your date of birth?  Don't! Your real friends would know,  and the scamsters need not know.  It's better to have a few less birthday wishes than having your bank account emptied out!
2) Don't indiscriminately sign-up to sites.  Join only those sites/mailing lists which handle data-privacy and information security in a mature and professional manner. 
3) Fudge data wherever it is required by the site but not really supposed to be important for the site.  If a  site does not allow you to create a profile without mentioning your date of birth,  just put up a fictitious one.  It's better to have a few people thinking that you are trying to be coy about your age than having your bank account emptied out!
4) Important note on 'privacy options':  Sites like livejournal allow you to set privacy options on individual posts,  but this comes with a risk when incorrectly used:
If you originally posted a piece with 'public' security and later converted it to 'friends only' or 'only me',  the search engine bots may have already beaten you to it!  You might be thinking that your data is visible only to your friends or only to you,  but it might be available to just about everybody.  When in doubt,  go for a higher level of privacy:  You can always relax it later;  vice-versa is NOT in your hands.

Detour

I often think of deleting my profiles on all sites barring lj,  but there are certain advantages in letting them remain:   A long-lost friend might just encounter my facebook/orkut/some other site’s page while actually looking for ways to contact me.  It would be nice if I could redirect him/her to my lj! :)

Here’s the list of my memberships on social networking and my activity status:

1) I’m on Facebook and I barely ever log in.  If I log in and see a message from a friend(s),  I just redirect them to my lj.
2) I’m on Twitter and I barely ever log in.
3) I’m on Orkut and I barely ever log in.  If I log in and see a message from a friend(s),  I just redirect them to my lj.
4) I’m supposed to be on hi5.. I don’t use it.
5) I’m on flickr.  I use it very infrequently: only to post comments on photographs uploaded by friends.
6) My profile probably exists on picasa.  I don’t use it.
7) I’m on linkedin and I barely ever log in.
7) I’m on livejournal.  A lot!  When I’m not posting,  I’m reading my friends` blogs.  I might not post a comment or a post each day,  but I’m around.  Drop me a comment and I WILL get back to you.

If you were cursing me for not promptly responding to your messages on any of the above-mentioned sites (barring lj) AND managed to find this post,  I hope you’ll stop cursing me!  Hey, now that you are here and patiently read this post,  you know how to get in touch with me!

If you were cursing me for not accepting any invitation to subscribe to a ‘new’  social networking site,  stop cursing me and completely give up on me.  I already am a member on more sites than I’ll ever use and I ignore all invites to any new sites,  not just the ones you send me!

If you just came over here looking at a ‘redirect message’ of mine AND are wondering what’s so great about lj,  stop wondering and start up your own journal!  You’ll probably come to love it as much as I do!

If you enjoyed this post  OR  thought that it was an utter waste of your time going through this post  OR  have any questions,  drop a comment!