Facebook reveals all sorts of information that could lead you directly to a person. But unless you are on someone's friendlist, the information is limited as you have alot of privacy options as to what info is shared with others.

If it's true, then I'm reassured. I'm not using facebook yet, and I don't know if I ever will, but it's good to know I can be picky about what info I can share.

Yeah, alot of the problems about facebook is that people share all sorts of personal information about themselves on there.

For example, I have a friend who party alot. There was a time where she was out every weekend with her friends and got drunk.

Then she was at a job interview and she was more than qualified to the job. She worked hard and partied hard, so to speak. She had great work ethics, was rarely sick, always on time and had the right education for it.

However, the job interviewer had been scowling on her facebook page to see what kind of person she is, saw all the party pictures, and then denied her the job because of it. They basically judged her whole person due to what she did in her time off work.

And ALOT of work places do that. It's not a foreign concept. So yeah, if you're worried about getting judged by what's posted on your facebook, don't go there.

@Jaded-raven
But you don't have to share this much personal info if you don't want to, right? I remember some article saying that Facebook very much encourages users, perhaps even requires them, to share as much personal information as possible.

You only share what you want to share, but it's a social network, so it will keep imploring you to share more.

In terms of the user agreement, you've got to go in eyes open. Facebook and the like are going to be privy to basic geographic information and activity, and unless you're scouring the terms & agreements to know exactly how that applies - you might assume there's some basic infotrading as part of that.

Sites like Facebook may encourage you to use your real name etc, but you may choose to exercise a pseudonym in sign-up and withhold optional information.

Making user settings your first port of call can address a lot of concerns, as well. You'll be able to set restrictions and limit the flow of information in a tailored manner. You can prioritize privacy through restricted viewer allowances (eg; only friends can see your details & updates), and ensure options like geolocation for specific posts is disabled.

Ultimately, there are a lot of equivalents between online and real-life. It's not exactly the same, but attitude and understanding is one of the pitfalls in this area. Recognizing that "it's just the internet" isn't applicable will help you a great deal. Think of the web as the public space that it is. Avoid giving sensitive information if it concerns you. Take measures to have unlisted contacts (just like a phone number etc). Don't tell people where you're going to be when in the same way you don't broadcast it in real life. Don't invite unknown entities into your inner circle if you aren't comfortable with giving them that level of access.