Top 5 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook

Facebook is almost the best thing since sliced bread for some people but there are certain things that you should never reveal on Facebook because you could be facing serious dangers.

The social network Facebook can be a great place to keep in touch with friends, meet new friends, network with business clients, share photos/videos and even play games with others. All of these benefits can be easily overshadowed by the serious risks that you may mistakenly take by revealing one of the 5 of our Top Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook. Not only could you infect your computer with a dangerous malware infection by clicking on suspicious links in Facebook, but you may put your personal identity at risk by revealing personal or confidential information.

Facebook has well over 500 million users. Amongst those users, as you can only image, are cybercrooks and hackers who thrive on finding users who reveal personal information on Facebook. The list of our top 5 things you should never reveal on Facebook not only applies to Facebook users, but the rules should apply to any social network such as Twitter or even MySpace.

Top 5 Things You Should Never Reveal on Facebook

#1 Item to never reveal on Facebook: Home Address

You may be thinking that revealing your home address on Facebook is not such a big deal because anyone can obtain it through an online '411' service. Sure that is true, but you put yourself at a greater risk of physical and identity theft if you willingly share your home address on a social network such as Facebook. Remember, a stranger does not know who you are until you make your presence known. Posting your home address on your Facebook profile draws extra attention to yourself and makes you a prime target for cybercrooks, pedophiles and even burglars.

#2 Item to never reveal on Facebook: Password Clues

You probably think it is a no-brainer to avoid posting your password or any clue to your password on Facebook but believe it or not, people do it on Facebook. 9 times out of 10 you have a dozen or so online accounts that you log into such as your banking accounts, insurance accounts and even other social accounts. Usually most people build their passwords off of cities they were married in, dog names or favorite schools. Relinquishing all of this data arms clever hackers with enough ammo to guess one of your passwords. Not to mention, the security questions that some online logins ask for can be answered by knowing this bit of information.

#3 Item to never reveal on Facebook: Vacation or Travel Plans

There is no better way to tell that friend on Facebook who has taken up stealing as his new carrier that you are planning on leaving your house tomorrow for a weeklong vacation in Hawaii to go and rob your house. Status updates on Facebook are great but updating your friends about when you are leaving your house is not a great idea. You should always assume that your privacy settings on Facebook do not limit none-friends from viewing your status. Facebook is a big maze and there is never any guarantee that anything you post on the social network is private.

#4 Item to never reveal on Facebook: Your Birth Location and Date

Identity thieves have an intelligent method for compiling information of their next victim and a major key in that is the birth date and birth location of their target. Do you remember the last time filling out a credit report or applying for credit. What about retrieving your password because you forgot it? Didn't you have to enter your birth day or in some cases enter where you were born. No one really needs to know the exact month, day and year that you were born. If you want someone to know how old you are then tell them in person. Do not post it on Facebook because a cybercrook may use it to collect information about you that may lead to identity theft. A study done by Carnegie Mellon revealed that your birth date and location could be used to predict certain numbers in your Social Security number

#5 Item to never reveal on Facebook: Confessionals or Personal Behavior

Posting a new Facebook status update to tell your friends that you smoked pot last night is not the brightest thing to do but some people do it. Also, letting the Facebook world know that you hate your boss and your job could also end up getting you fired turning your live upside-down. Relinquishing information about what on the weekend, during your downtime or even on your job could land you in some hot water. You may not become the newest identity theft victim, but you are likely to suffer some dire consequences for posting confessionals or personal behavior on Facebook.

You never know who is looking at your Facebook updates. Even if you your privacy settings are better than those at Fort Knox, it is important to limit the information that you share on Facebook.

Have you ever wished that you did not post something on Facebook (could not take it back) because all of your friends saw it before you could delete the post? Did you ever get in some type of trouble for posting something on Facebook?