Facebook is wonderful for staying in touch with people from all stages of our lives. It's also easy to over-share. This is not about frat party photos by college students - it's about grown-up people forgetting they're in a public space, not a private one.The first thing to remember is that if you are ultra-concerned about your privacy, you should not be on Facebook in the first place. You can read about deactivating/deleting your account here: https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674/
If you do plan to remain on Facebook, you should stop posting the following:
1. Anything that can be debunked by Snopes.com. This includes, but is not limited to, privacy settings on Facebook and where to send Christmas cards to soldiers. Please, spend your time investigating it on snopes instead of continuing to clutter Facebook with this spam.
2. Your dirty laundry. If you feel the need to offer someone an ultimatum, explain how you're just not going to put up with their foolishness anymore, or any other such thing, please do it privately. The rest of us do not need to be involved. This does not make you look strong, it makes you look desperate for validation. Your friends who jump in to offer support do not look like kind, caring individuals, they look like people who have a co-dependency problem. Healthy people do not do these things. It's not flattering. Remember this is a public space.
3. Naked photos of your children. You may think that shot of them in the bathtub is really cute, but the rest of us feel uncomfortable seeing it. Yes, maybe that indicates our society is all messed up, but it's just the way it is. The only people who aren't uncomfortable with it, other than you and their grandma, are pedophiles.
4. One post right after another, so you're effectively taking over someone's wall. This is NOT welcome.
5. Photos that demonstrate how much alcohol you consume. If you're at the restaurant in Puerto Rico where the Pina Colada was invented, it's understandable you'd want to post a photo of it. That tells us you travel to interesting places. Two dozen empty glasses on the table tells us you have a drinking problem. Your co-workers, clients, bosses or mother do not need to believe a cluster of empty glasses/bottles/cans is the most interesting thing you have to share about your life.
6. Shared photos or status updates from pages with obscene names. Unless you would use the F-word in a conversation with anyone on your friends list, don't do it on Facebook, even by proxy. This is an easy mistake to make, unfortunately, but do pay attention. People will forgive the occasional lapse, but it's something to definitely not make a habit of.
7. Tags that are not accurate. Do not tag people in photos in which they do not appear. The people you're tagging will be annoyed with you. Their friends who go to look for them in the photos will be annoyed with both of you. None of this will earn you any good will.
8. Complaints about Facebook. No one is forcing you to be on Facebook. You shouldn't do things that stress you out that much.
9. Photos taken in the bathroom. It's private space. Anything that's private shouldn't be posted on Facebook.
Facebook is a public space, so treat it as such.
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