Before I start, let me clarify I am writing this post in context of India and that too involving Facebook.As Facebook has grown in large proportion in India and more and more people start sharing almost everything.It tends me to write this post.

What is oversharing?

We know Facebook is a medium of sharing things with friends and world.But when we get addicted to it we start sharing everything, we face a situation called oversharing.By seeing your friend doing this, you too do same thing.This chain grows among your friends and sometime we forget or do not realize what to share and what not.Oversharing is phenomenon where most of your private life is on social media and instead of understanding its consequence, you start enjoying it.

Oversharing can be Dangerous and may lead to crimes.Lets see first why we overshare things on Facebook:

Follow each other – In India sometime we do not do things for a reason but just love to blindly follow someone else.We often see people sharing small day to day activities including food,places and family.Because they share so do we.We never know the reason and just love to see like and comments on our post.

Love to see other jealous – We love to show off others and find Facebook a good medium to do it.When somebody else shares or check in some places we want to look better than them and try to share or check in often.This tend to violate your privacy.

Nothing else to do – People in India now less limited to their social world.They rarely visit relative or friend home and more busy in professional life.The only place they find to share things is Facebook.This result in sharing almost everything.

Now lets check what is the consequence of oversharing on Facebook:

Invitation to thief – sharing your location often will invite thieves and they always know when you will not be at home.A thief can closely monitor this and can use this.

be at home.A thief can closely monitor this and can use this. Threat to kids – Sometime people share location along with kid’s picture.A attacker can use this to get kids name and their relative name to lure them.These information might be used sometime for kidnapping.

Limited social world – Once you get addicted to Facebook, you rarely meet friends and always want to get connected via social media.Life will be boxed in a small laptop, phone or Ipad.

Misuse of Information – A trespassers can use the info to create a pattern of past checkin and information to know your whereabouts.For example If a bad guy know you visit to a certain mall every weekend, he know when to attack you.

Used by Employers – Nowadays most employers and background check agencies use your Facebook history to be use for your background.As a privacy measure you never want these info to be leaked to them.

The Important question?

So now question arises if we will not checkin at Facebook, what it is made up for.Well to answer this question Facebook checkin a feature which widely benefit business to spread their outlets or branches.knowingly or unknowingly we promote their business on Facebook.Once we checkin, it will be shared on your wall and your friends and then more people know about the place and go there.It is like you are promoting a business without taking any money from them.Facebook on the other hands charges money for every ad it display on your wall.

How to Effectively use Checkin?

Use checkin option rarely only few times a month.Also use it for places you go sometime like a holiday or meeting your old friend after long time.Do not use it for checking mall,station, shop or every xyz restaurant.

It can be used to inform in some critical condition where phone cannot be used.For example in international travel when we cannot use phone we can use checkin to inform whereabouts to friends and relatives.Always make sure your checkin is visible to friends only and not to public or friends of friends.

Conclusion:

The whole idea to discuss this topic si to make aware you about your privacy.In India we give least priority to our privacy and make most of the part open to public on social media.We need to be very careful in adding friends and sharing only limited content on Facebook.Most important is to be never addicted to it and always use old style to meet friends personally whenever get time instead of chatting on IM.

Remember your little alert and awareness can save and protect your family.Please do share your opinions regarding this subject and mention how you protect your privacy.

Here is small video reminding you not to share personal info on Facebook: