| Social network is an advanced form of | | | | not to share personal information. Even, if various |
| communication binding people having specific values, | | | | social networks come together because of security |
| ideas, friendship, visions, and so on. This network | | | | issues, considering them individually is a must for |
| revolves around categories such as friendship, | | | | specific security weaknesses. |
| professional links and love relations. | | | | Privacy is the main concern and hence adhering to |
| The relations of social network are built based on the | | | | some simple advice such as thinking twice before |
| user`s everyday life, and gets expanded with every | | | | sharing your password, and after typing the email |
| new contact. Entering a social network involves | | | | address and password to login, and ensuring that the |
| building a personal profile by giving email address, | | | | `Remember me box` is turned off, is a must. Similarly, |
| personal interests, work experiences, hobbies, and so | | | | log out after using the social network sites are simple |
| on. This is the point which the contact network | | | | recommendations assisting to keep the data safe. |
| widens and helps in building thematic virtual | | | | Above all, avoid putting sensitive information on social |
| communities. Some of the online social networks are | | | | networks by restricting the kind of information to be |
| Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut, Kibop, MySpace and | | | | shared. If you are referring to hobbies, do not |
| Facebook. | | | | enhance it with work information, as privacy settings |
| Speaking about the security of social networks, there | | | | should be customized and even then if something |
| is a threat of divulging the personal information and | | | | undesired crops up, block the access and report |
| the theft of identity is a matter of growing concern. | | | | violations. |
| Personal information stored in the social network | | | | Hiding specific areas of the profile such as contact |
| sites includes intimate details such as religion, | | | | information from certain people is also one of the |
| relationship, personal hobbies, views on politics and | | | | best ways of maintaining security. However, to |
| many others. The security issue is that the | | | | employ this technique, make sure that only few |
| combination of details makes it compelling and | | | | preferred contacts will have access to the concealed |
| interesting, besides being potentially dangerous. It is | | | | information. This can be done by choosing the |
| easy to locate theoretically the place you live and the | | | | privacy settings that allows you to decide viewing |
| hour you are available, and this may lead to some | | | | and also in blocking applications, if undesired. |
| personal problems. | | | | Preventing network users of knowing about your |
| Excessive blabbing can lead to unwanted gossip and | | | | presence on the site can also be done, so that you |
| in this process there are chances of revealing more | | | | are not interrupted every time you log in. |
| than essential information. Hence, be safe by paying | | | | Facebook and MySpace are two of largest the social |
| attention to the revealed information, and being | | | | networking sites and are hence a main target for |
| discreet by taking time to understand the privacy | | | | hackers, spammers and online predators. As a result, |
| policy published in these sites is a must. It should be a | | | | it is always recommended to be conservative and |
| rule of thumb not trust anybody immediately and also | | | | controlled in exposing your personal information. |