“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” Gertrude Stein

I know I've written of Facebook scams before and the simple method of Googling some unusual link a friend posted before clicking on it. But I believe you should be a little proactive with your Facebook scam knowledge. Recently I came across a FB page called FaceCrooks that’s main purpose is to keep you up to date of the current badness going on in the FB universe. To join FaceCrooks, do what you do with any page that’s cool or interesting, hit the “like” button. Now when they post you’ll see it in your feed. By you being more aware you can warn your friends and in turn you will see less spam.

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” Tennessee Williams

I came to Facebook rather late but I have jumped in with both feet. Now that I use the system I have become a proponent of it. However it does have its doubters. The two biggest questions I get is “fine, I made an account now what?” and “what is it for?”. I find it is useful for the basic reason of connecting with old friends seeing what they are up to and catching a glimpse of their life. Now I will say that is the obvious reason. I mean that is what it was originally for. Some people call it something slightly different, networking. I do like the connecting of friends but the question always comes up “why not just use email?”. Well for two basic reasons, I rarely email just to catch up. I usually have a question or I need to give some info out. I can throw a pun out into the Facebook universe and people can just “like it” without having to say anything. This is nice because you get to say “hey I like your thought, joke, idea…. but I have nothing to add to it.” I just well like the statement. I do have a second reason I really like Facebook. It is something called crowd sourcing. This is just a quick way of saying that I am going to ask a whole lot of people for information. Let’s say I run out of ideas for the blog or I am working on a class and I just can’t seem to pull it together, well I can ask all my friends, contacts, what I should write. Because they are all at different point in their life and have different experience I may well get a take from them that I would never think of. In a local way I can get quick information as well. Not too long ago we were hanging out at the house. I was on my computer (I know big surprise right?) and the house began to shake. There was a sound like thunder but it was a clear night. Frankly we were freaked out. It sounded like the world was about to end. So I quickly jumped on Facebook and asked did anyone else hear the noise and feel the rumble. I quickly got responses from all the people that live in my town that they saw a low flying jet go over. Quick information that I normally would have to email all the people that were local and hope they checked their email regularly. I use it for many things from events I am part of to just a quick way to acknowledge an old friend’s birthday. I hope this answers the why or at least my why. Maybe you should give it a try by jumping in with both feet.

One other thing I should mention is that there is a book I recommend for understanding the basics. It is FACEBOOK ME! By Dave Awl but don’t wait too long to get this book because sites like Facebook can change radically in 6 months.

“I was street-smart- but unfortunately the street was Rodeo Drive” Carrie Fisher

Today I was on Facebook to see what friends were up to and I noticed one person said she was going on vacation. Curious, I checked her friend’s list and it was over 2000. This made me worried. She had just told 2000 people that she would be away from her home and for how long. Some of her friends” have to be at the very most casual acquaintances, essentially strangers. Now this is the strength of FB, the meeting of new people and refreshing old relationships. However this is also a weakness. As an example, I would never yell out my address and tell people that I will on vacation while riding on the bus. That is essentially what is going on all over FB. Now I am not an overly cautious or paranoid person but there is common sense to use even when online. Some basic things she could have done instead. She could have used a little white lie and said someone would be staying at the house while she is gone. This immediately takes away her apartment as an easy target. Also there is a nice feature on FB called lists. You can go through your friends and assign people to lists like close friends, casual friends, work friends and so on. I personally like to use old chum for some of my lists. Now when she wants to tell the important people she is going on vacation she clicks the little lock next to her post and chooses to customize who can see this post. Then she can choose certain people or type in the name of the list to make it easier. Friends, by the way, can be on multiple lists like a person who is both a family member and close friend. Finally the most secure thing is to put it in a private email. People can still comment and respond but you can limit this to just the most trusted people. Remember when using Facebook to use the same cautiousness you would use on the streets