Networking with Strangers- A Social Disaster

Reasons why people accept friend requests or follow people they don’t know on social networking communities:

• Just like in high school, some of us need to feel popular


• Staying updated on the latest buzz across the interwebs


• The internet is full of potential when it comes to finding Mr. or Mrs. Right and the networking possibilities are endless.


• Social networking communities are the easiest way to build a big list of people to spam in the future. Woot!

Reasons why people shouldn’t accept friend request or follow people they don’t know on social networking communities:

Cyber Creeps - If you think strangers online can’t harm you physically and aren’t real threat to you, think again. Cyber creeps can harass you or worse, track you down. People use their real names on their profiles 90% of the time and the location where they live or work whether it is state or city. These two things can be enough information to track you down with the help of a simple Google search.

Social Networking Buzz Can Sting - The latest buzz across social networking communities usually has some form of malware attached, your real friends would never intentionally send you malware, but a stranger wouldn’t hesitate. Before you click on a link from a stranger you’re following in Twitter, be aware of the strong possibility that your computer could become infected with malware with just one click.

Spam, Spam and more Spam - We all get spam in our email, even though there are federal laws to help reduce the volume. There are no federal laws against spamming your Myspace inbox, it’s a free-for-all. Online marketers and spammers are crowding the social networking communities, creating fake profiles, adding as many friends a possible and turning on the spam faucet and letting it flow.

Identity Theft – Posting personal information online is dangerous, then letting strangers have a gander is pretty reckless. Your name, age and city can be enough information for a cyber thief to make off with your identity and you would never be the wiser… until you tried to get a loan or you ran your credit report.

Phishing Scams – It’s your lucky day, a long lost relative in Nigeria has left you an inheritance!!! Phishing scams run rampant across social networking communities, and sometimes have nothing to do with Nigeria and are not so easy to recognize. Phishing scams can look like official messaging from Facebook, Google, Myspace, eBay, the federal government or other creditable and trusted websites, companies or organizations and unsuspecting people fall for these scams all the time. Keeping your profiles private will help eliminate phishing scams in your social networking inboxes.