A Public Service Announcement: Facebook Friend or Foe

I have to admit that I was initially quite leary of Facebook, because I have had a tendency to attract stalkers since the early age of 10. And NO – THIS IS NOT BECAUSE I HAVE SLEPT WITH THEM – as one reader suggested in an email to me this morning in response to yesterday’s post. For the record, I HAVE NEVER SLEPT WITH ANY OF MY STALKERS!!!!!!

So naturally with stalkers and all, I have tended to keep a fairly low key online existence – no online dating, my space account …etc. That is until I finally buckled from the pressure of invite after invite and folded – becoming friends with Facebook. Have to say the friendship blossomed quickly with several blasts from the past, a new work day distraction of taking on the masses at Scrabbulus. But it seemed safe enough. I quickly confided in Facebook to “block” the one ex-lover that had turned psychotically Jekyll and Hyde on me – deleting my existence forever from his Facebook reality. But it didn’t take long before the stalkers started finding me through Facebook. I mean Facebook does get around after all! And to make it worse they were stalkers that fell into my business world! So whats a gal to do!?! I couldn’t very well turn down their invitations to be “friends”, so I started asking Facebook to limit the information they gave to certain “friends”. Specifically limit my status, when I am online and access to my friends.

I have since enjoyed a blissful relationship with Facebook. That is until yesterday when I was stabbed in the back. I am sure this was not done intentionally, but thought I would warn the rest of you in case anyone else ends up in a similar predicament.

This story of betrayal began with the advent of Facebook’s latest fashion statement – the instant messaging accessory. Initially wasn’t sure about this particular accessory, but I have to admit after a few sweet conversations it has grown on me. Until late yesterday afternoon when I saw it clash against my profile. Within the span of 10-minutes two of my stalkers, who were supposed to be screened against when I was online, were instant messaging me – knowing that I was there working hard on computer (or in truth trying to annihilate a few friends in Scrabbulus) – I felt so exposed – so naked!!!

After further investigation, I discovered that it was likely not the fault of this new accessory, but rather that Facebook had upgraded their Privacy closet and left a few of their confidences behind in the move – namely my limited profile settings!!! Now I know that Facebook has the best of intentions, so I am not going to dissolve my friendship over this phoepa. Everyone makes mistakes – forgive and forget. But I will make a point of reminding Facebook from time to time who they can and cannot share my secrets with. I suggest that you dear readers might wish to do the same, just in case they have forgotten with you too.