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"Show me who your friends are and I'll show you who you are." Never has such an old phrase had so much meaning in modern society. Facebook has become such an important influence on how people interact with each other that for many people it has even replaced email.

It started with people knowing people, and wanting to know more people. Then, educators started monitoring the site to guard against students behaving against the school's or school board's code of ethics. Then, employers started checking out profiles to get an idea on who prospective job applicant's really are. Now, law keepers have gotten in on the act. Facebook entries and contacts allow them to not only track and catch criminals but, also use they evidence they gather in court. Child custody lawsuits have been determined on the basis of Facebook entries.

Having a Facebook account is almost unavoidable. Many people got sucked in because their friends started sending messages through the site instead of regular email and they had to sign up in order to read and respond to them. Once in, people can't help but want to explore the many applications and features just to learn what the hype is all about. Most either don't know or quickly forget that once something has been entered into the nebulous world of the Internet social networking machine they can never, ever get it back. It's out there. Forever.

Although people are starting to wise up to security settings, becoming somebody's friend provides insight into not only their lives but, the lives of everybody who touches their profile. So, if they are tagged on a photo that somebody else put up, all of a sudden you have access to that stranger's photo album. An album that may have images not intended for anybody other than their close circle of friends.

The constant onslaught of personal updates to the question "What's on your mind?" allows a person to gain access to information belonging to anybody that responded to an updated that they also responded to. What can be gleaned this way is not just limited to what the friend's friend included in their witty comeback.

In real life, friends come and go. People have falling outs. Not defriend somebody that is no longer a trusted contact allows them to remain in the loop and able to distribute information, both willingly and unwillingly, to all of Kevin Bacon's friends.

Learn more about this author, Freyda Tartak.
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