Facebook is a useful social networking tool, a fun place to entertain oneself and a great way to simply waste time. While I am a big fan of Facebook, it is important to make sure that it is a tool you use wisely. With more than 63 million active users, according to Facebook, it’s important to be conscious of what content you are putting on your profile, and who you’re allowing to see said content.

The first priority to any online community member should be personal safety. While the idea that somebody out there might have bad intentions for having your personal information is not a pleasant one, it is a possibility one should always bear in mind. The default setting for privacy on Facebook allows for anyone in a shared network as you to view your profile. So if you are only in the UW-Platteville network, which allows over 7,000 people registered on Facebook in the Platteville network to view anything you may put on your profile. When it comes to information like your favorite movies, music and TV shows, that may not be a big deal; your address, phone number, e-mail and place of work, however, may be pieces of information that are better kept from so many people.

While the ideal solution to this for some may be simply not to put this information in their profiles, you can also protect yourself through use of Facebook’s privacy settings. In the privacy tab that is accessible from any page being viewed on Facebook, you can control who sees your profile, who doesn’t see your profile and what certain people who view your profile are allowed to see. This is helpful in ensuring that people you don’t know or more importantly don’t trust don’t get information that you may not want them to have, and will help you avoid uncomfortable or even potentially dangerous situations.

While personal safety is a very important concern for users of Facebook, your choice of profile content is also relevant to potential employers of near graduates. According to cbsnews.com, many employers, who usually opt to remain nameless, will look at applicants’ Facebook profiles to find out more about the applicants, including their character and personality. This means that it’s very possible they will also be seeing any photos you may have on Facebook. While the pictures of you and your family during winter break may be endearing, I doubt most employers would appreciate pictures of applicants sloshed out of their minds at a party or engaging in other generally irresponsible activities. So to any near graduates who may be reading, if you wouldn’t want a prospective boss to see it, take it off Facebook.

So what it all boils down to is this: be smart about what you put on Facebook. Make sure you know who’s allowed to look at your Facebook profile, and make sure that you don’t have inappropriate content if there are people who you may not wish to see it.