Think Before You Update

Over on my outdoors blog (whitespider1066) I have been talking about the outdoors industry not really getting social media ("Not so social outdoors").
I also have some (and I say this myself) some great photos of a swan I took on my iPhone.
Over on whitespider1066 I advocate the Chase Jarvis mantra of the 'the best camera is the one with you'. Which usually means the iPhone 3G and it's 2 megapixel inbuilt camera.
There are posts over on the other blog where I have talked about the apps I use on the iPhone to edit photos.
But I will be covering some other iPhone apps over there as well in the near future that deal with OS map data and the GPS. It's the logical place for me to discuss these apps in detail.
But my point in the post I wrote yesterday is that the iPhone and now the Android phones are becoming conduits to the social networks that we use. They enable us to post updates and check what is going on in our networks from where ever we are. Whether this is using a geolocation based network like Foursquare to say "I'm here whose around?" or posting photos.
Yes with this location based stuff there is always the "but you are broadcasting you are away to potential burgulars". Which is true. BUT. Yes there is a but. What we need is people to put in a little more thought into what they broadcast on the social networks they are on, and also who they friend.
Let's look at Twitter, that is a pretty open social network. It is also one that I would think twice about broadcasting my where abouts on.
If using something like Gowalla and Foursquare, don't just friend every Tom,Dick and Harry. Because you are broadcasting your location you really need to know the people that you friend on these networks. It's a personal rule I like to use on these networks, no strangers, I need to know the people.
I also apply this rule to Facebook. But on Facebook you have more control over who gets to see what. And I would recommend that folks use these controls.
At the end of the day though you should always THINK before you post to a social network. Whether that post is some location based info, or a picture or just I'm doing such and such. THINK "what happens if this gets out to the wrong people?"
Also THINK before you accept some-one as a friend on a social network. Ask yourself "am I happy that this person knows where I am, or sees my photos, or reads my updates?"
Just applying common sense to the whole social networking stuff will help so much to avoiding those embarrassing situations. Maybe it's time we started teaching our kids, and ok us adults as well how to use these social networks. It really is surprising how many people don't know how to control their Facebook settings, or think about what they are posting. We need to educate.
These social networks are a great communication tool, that allow us to keep in contact with friends and family, make new friends, and share our ideas with the world. We just need to think a bit more and learn how to use these tools properly.