Twitter, Fun! But Is It Safe?

Who among us these days doesn't have a Twitter account? Everybody is using this service, be it politicians, celebrities and most of our friends and neighbors. It is fun using Twitter as I also have an account. It's fun to read updates from our Twitter friends on what they are currently doing. It has indeed become an open book for everybody to read. What is basically my purpose of having a Twitter? It all boils down to communication. The need to keep in touch with friends and in short bursts of updates; you will know what's going on with them. But Twitter is beyond just communicating with friends, you can actually stalk celebrities and politicians. Some companies used this service to promote their products because they know the wide range of its reach to the public. As an ego boost, I also want a lot of "followers" and see myself as a celebrity just like the celebrities I've been following. I happen to check on some twitter applications where you can gain a lot, even hundreds of followers but in exchange of adding more and more people to follow on your list. It occurred to me that I actually don't have the time to read all the updates and it was already difficult for me to read what my real friends are now doing. Some of my friends that I cared about are also on Twitter and these are the most important updates that I needed to read and not updates of some strangers. Eventually I blocked and stopped following these "strangers" and maintained a steady list of people that I cared about and or interested to be friends with.

It is fun to follow the daily routines of Ryan Seacrest, Larry King or my favorite American Idol contestants but I think I should also have to consider my own safety and privacy before I start twittering about myself. First, Twitter accounts have little in the way of security settings that let you control who can see your posts. You can block specific users, but that will only prevent them from being listed as "followers" of your account. They can still see everything you post. Because of this, if you don't want particular people to know what you're up to, don't write about it at all.
People have a way of finding out these things, especially if you're writing about them on a publicly viewable site. Recent hacking incidents also showed how easy it is for some people to gather information associated with your Twitter user account. They may be able to get your cell phone numbers or email addresses if you chose to divulge them. Most likely email harvesters are using Twitter to gather email addresses from posts and updates.

Twitter is a fun service that can be great for posting quick thoughts, recommendations, and updates on everything from what book you're reading to how you're spending your weekend. Just make sure you're not writing about anything too personal. If you can, use an email account which you only use for registering online for free newsletters, online promotions and other free offers and one that you don't mind to be flooded with spam.

That all said…you can follow me @jaypeelo….