Image by Will Lion via FlickrI have been having many conversations with people lately about getting out and blogging, join Facebook, or do something on the internet. Make a video, do a podcast, do something that adds value to the internet and the daily noise level that we experience. What is ending up being interesting about this is that fear seems to be ruling the day.

“I don’t know who will see me”

“I’ll be cyber stalked”

“There are bad people out there”

All sorts of ideas that social networking somehow exposes the person to something that they don’t want to be exposed to, all the negative aspects of social networking and few if any of the good aspects. When we social network we are sharing what we know, making new friends, and moving on. We do not have to friend people back; we can choose our friends on line much as we can choose to friend those people we work with.

There have been so many negative things in the press about social networking, from people not being hired for their social networking spaces. There have also been people getting into a lot of trouble for their blog or what they post on a social network that we almost need a primer for new folks to learn to adapt to the rules of social networks. This will not keep people from doing things that will reflect badly on them, but at least it is an attempt at keeping people safe.

If anything, modern day social networking is much like the office used to be, you have those you love and want to spend time with. You have those you do ok with, but occasionally come up with something interesting, and then there are those you do not want to have anything to do with, you do not friend those people back by the way.

Social networks are as safe as you yourself make them. If you are posting your phone number on the internet, then yes, you are going to get the psycho call you, that is part of the game. It is no different from in real life, if you post your phone number on a bulletin board in a store, same thing is going to happen. If you post a naked picture of yourself on line, then it is like walking down the street naked. If you post things that look bad on you, then that is how it is. If people post things that look bad on you that is something different, and there are always ways to take care of those kinds of issues.

The key to making social networks work is to know that you cannot control everything about them. People go through social networks looking for people they know. If you use them smartly, do not post things that can lead to trouble, do not post racy pictures, and realize that those pictures and writing are as public as standing on a street corner or riding a bus, social networks are perfectly fine. Loose the fear, have some fun, and join in.

Fear keeps people from doing so many things that really if you are into social networking, help your friends over their fear, it will usually end up well.

Tags: fear, social netowkring, facebook, myspace, stalking, control, loss, interesting, people