I must admit, I am not a huge fan of social media. Although we all use it for our careers and to enhance our SEO rankings, I often feel frustrated by it. My Facebook roll usually consists of a few cool posts, some inspirational quotes and messages for the day, but, most of all, grammatically incorrect postings of what people are eating for lunch or long drawn out posts about how devastating their life is. I am so inclined to post back GET OVER IT!
Despite all of the annoyances and negativity, I am still present in the social media network; in today’s life, how can you not be? Luckily, my presence on social media sites this year has really taught me a great lesson about this venue …
be careful who you friend, be careful what you share, be careful.
Without getting too personal, some time back I had accepted friend requests from some folks who I thought I knew. They were friends of a person who used to be in my life. I recognized the names and thought, what can it hurt. I found it odd that none of them had pictures or much information about themselves in the profile, but figured they must just be in the process of setting it up. Well, eventually I discovered that these were NOT real people, they were NOT friends of the person who used to be in my life, in fact they WERE that actual person! That person had created these profiles as a means to stalk me, literally. Using my facebook posts this person would find out where I was, whom I was with, and what I was doing. In response, I no longer allowed my pages to be viewed publically or by this person … so, I suppose that creating these dummy profiles was the “way around it”. Unfortunately, it worked.
Once I discovered this scary issue I immediately cleaned up my “friends list” and left no stone unturned. About 20 “friends” later I was feeling a bit more secure. A few days later I officially joined ActiveRain … I was a newbie and so excited to get started! That first day was dampened when this same person somehow found me on AR and sent me a snide message via the private inbox. I was almost tempted to delete my ActiveRain account, but, I ended up saying …. “HEY! I am not going to live my life hiding under a rock!”. I asked my family to support me by sending a message to this person telling them to BACK OFF! Oddly enough I haven’t heard a word since … I am not convinced it will be the last of the stalking, but for now I know that taking precautions to make sure you are publicizing yourself in the right way and to the right media is word one in ensuring that social networking does not turn into social stalking!
All joking aside, stalking is a serious and extremely nerve-wracking experience to be a part of. Social media is now considered one of the main routes that stalkers take to intimidate their victims. Be careful to remember that while social media is a great tool for you, it can also be a great tool for others. If something is private and you do not want it shared, DO NOT POST IT! Keep your eyes open and never overlook something that your gut tells you is fishy!
Erin Bates
Aspen Lane Real Estate
Marketing and Business Development
“A thought is a Cosmic Order waiting to happen” – Stephen Richards
GreenTourmalineConsulting@Gmail.com
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