Networking with Strangers – A Social Disaster

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

– Just like in high school, Some people are looking for popularity

– Keeping up with the latest buzz across the interwebs

– Potentially finding Mr. or Mrs. Right.

– Easily getting a huge list of people on social networking communities for future spamming. Woot!

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

Cyber Creeps - Underestimating the threat of an online stranger can be harmful. Cyber creeps can harass you not only online, but in person. 90% of the time people online use their real names and their location where they live or work, whether it is state or city. With those two pieces of information, anybody can do a simple google search about you.

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 be reluctant. Be aware of the strong possiblity that your computer could become infected with malware with just one click on a link from a stranger you’re following in Twitter.

Spam, Spam and more Spam – There are federal laws to help reduce the volume of spam you receive in your emails, but, there are no federal laws against spamming your Myspace inbox. It’s open to everyone. 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 not only dangerous, it is reckless. Your name, age and city is 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 – Have you ever gotten one of those e-mails about how your “long-lost relative” in Timbuktu left you millions of dollars? These sorts of scams are very prevalent on social media and some are more deceiving than the above example. They can often look like official messaging from the social network whether it’s Myspace, Facebook, eBay or even Google. If you keep your profile setting to private you can often avoid these phishing scams from entering your inbox.