My Boss is On Facebook.

And so is my younger brother. And so is my ex-boyfriend, the one I haven't spoken to in three years. So is my best friend, my current crush, and that guy I sat next to last semester in ENG 101.

And I'm "facebook friends" with every single person I just mentioned. "To facebook" has become a verb in the college/university community, and in truth, is only just this side of becoming one to the "real world" as well. As soon as Mark Zuckerberg made the call to let everyone with an email address in, things like security and privacy walked out. If you haven't seen this flash animation, you should watch it. It's called, "Does what happen in the Facebook stay in the Facebook?" It's a pretty scary thing to think that my details are being sold to the highest bidder.

But - does it bother me more or less that my boss is facebooking me and now knows my five favorite movies? Or that I read more Oscar Wilde than George Orwell? What about when my boss knows I'm "planning to attend Ghana Art & Design Studio Gallery Exhibit"? Or that my calendar shows I'm not as busy on Saturday as I told him I was?

What about my younger brother? Does he need to see those photos that my friend took last weekend when I was too drunk to remember? Is it really necessary for him to see who I'm friends with? Or my schedule at any given point?

What about a future employer? What should they really know about me before they meet me? Have you ever done a Google search on your name? Try Google-ing several different iterations - nicknames, alternate last names, etc. See what comes up.

Assume I'm ok with this. Assume, for a while, that I'm ok with what I have online, and what I'm presenting myself as. But I'm not ok with that guy I sat next to in ENG 101 messaging me simply to ask if I'll teach him Photoshop and Illustrator. In a couple hours, in my "spare time." Yeah. Right. And I'm not ok with the idea that just anyone can log in and track my whereabouts at any given time.

It sucks, but my message is a clean, clear, simple, and oft-repeated one: be careful what you put online. It may end up somewhere you don't want it to.