The deadly sins of sharing on Facebook, by the last person who should give advice on this topic

My high school acquaintance recently posted on Facebook the following status: “the less you post to Facebook the less you’ll have to delete later.” While I had a good chuckle to myself, it also made me think. I post A LOT to Facebook. Basically, I tend to error on the side of oversharing.  Of course, my love affair with Facebook started innocently enough.  I signed up for an account back in 2007 as a way to share my weekend at the cottage and birthday party pictures with a small group (approximately 25 people) of close friends. Fast forward 5 years, 100 plus albums and 713 friends later.  My small affair turned into a love obsession.  I am literally O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with Facebook now.  It’s time I took a hard look at what I share and reevaluate.

For everyone else who might be like me, here’s a few reminders.
Baby pictures
1. Other than your partner and parents, no one needs to see more than 1 new picture a day of your super cute kids. I know, I’m at fault for this one (big time), but it’s true. Try to resist and share the other 10 cute pictures you have (with those that care), via email. Same goes for pet owners who treat their pets like kids.
2. Full frontal nudity, no matter at what age or how cute it is, is NOT okay.
3. Disturbing pictures of your labour (ie. Blood, placenta, half-naked pictures of yourself) are not and should not be shared with 700 of your closest friends. I mean, even Hollywood keeps those details under wraps.  Have you ever seen a “messy” birth on film?  TMI people.  T-M-I
4. Basically, anything that might be misinterpreted and be questionable by CAS should not be shared on FB.

Work-related posts
1. Don’t ever post any complaints you have about work on FB. No matter how bad your day was. Your friends can be your co-workers, but co-workers aren’t always your friends!
2. Don’t post a link to the new job you’re applying for. This includes “like”ing Workopolis, Careerbuilder, and any other job search site.
3. Ensure to limit, untag, make private or erase all together any incriminating pictures of yourself. These may include “wardrobe malfunctions”, binge drinking or days off (when you should be at work) pictures of yourself. Your future boss might look here first to see if you’re a good fit. So unless you’re applying to be a stripper, or a bar-mitzvah / bachelor party organizer, those pictures will probably allow Mr. I don’t have a FB account to get hired over you.

Status updates
1. No one cares what you had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
2. Don’t announce or congratulate a friend on FB on the recent engagement, birth of child or other major life milestone before they’ve posted the news themselves or told you it’s okay to do so.  3. No one cares where you are at this moment.  Doctor, Dentist, Park or Home.  Save that kind of sharing for Twitter.

Facebook games
Don’t post or ask anyone to help you with one of your online games. Does anyone still play Farmville? I don’t know because I deleted all those people from my timeline.

While some things can’t be avoided to be shared, like a failed relationship or a loss, we can all do our part to keep some of our private life, well… private. Or do as my one friend does. She has a private account that she never posts to and doesn’t let others post to but she has all of creeping (uhhhhhh I mean staying connected with the people who matter :)) benefits the rest of us do. I mean, if I can’t overshare on FB, at least I can see what other people are. And if you tactically want to limit who you want your posts to reach, you can try optimizing resources such as the facebook friend remover.

Disclaimer: at one point or another I have probably overshared one, more, or all of the deadly Facebook sins noted above.