So last week one of our colleagues was shocked to find her profile on a matchmaking site. It also had her pic from her Orkut photo album. She was furious, upset and livid with the person who played the prank.

If you put up your pics on a social networking site, does it mean that you are asking for it? Or is this like saying women who wear short skirts are asking to be eve-teased!

No the analogy doesn't pan out. Right from the ICQ and IRC days, people had all kinds of nicknames from 'hot girl' to 'sexy chick'. Nobody gunned for 'want-to-be-a-nun someday'…

Now, people have graduated to using their real names and identities on every single community out there.

The whole idea being you can be who you want to be when you are online. Which is interpreted as the freedom to put up steamy profiles and hot pics. And also the freedom to act provocatively with strangers.

The very same women who would have probably ignored a guy who approached them offline, quickly approve his 'friend' requests online! Despite tons of reports in the media about how to behave on social networking sites like Orkut, nobody pays any heed to well meant advice.

Why?

"Because this doesn't affect me."

True you may not a celeb or big shot who will be stalked or chased and so on…

However, here are 10 compelling reasons why you need to be careful of what you say, who you add and the pics you put up on Orkut or your chosen poison:

1. The whole world will know you have cellulite from those beach pics, so there won't be any point in covering your legs anymore.
   
   
2. Your boss may discover that you took an off to go for a party and not the hospital.
   
   
3. You scrapping your friends about wanting to quit your job is not only likely to get you fired, but also blacklist you with other recruiters.
   
   
4. A potential recruiter might discover your exact salary if you have gone tom-tomming all over the place to everybody who will hear about your raise or lack of it!
   
   
5. People who have a poor opinion of someone on your list, may end up regarding you in the same light. This doesn't go well for you, unless your don't-care-a-damn persona is true in your real life as well.
   
   
   Agree with these reasons? Disagree? Join the debate on Internet privacy here. 
   
   
   
6. If you approve a 'friend' request from a stranger and indulge in a bit of harmless flirting, he may go back and boast to your boyfriend and his colleague about how this female is leading him on.
   
   
7. Your family may discover who you are dating, how far you have gone, thanks to your friendly-neighbourhood 'auntie' who is 'concerned' about your future.
   
   
8. You may end up dating or worse marrying the wrong guy thanks to your online persona being way different!
   
   
9. Your silly comments about a friend, colleague, ex-boss will come back and haunt you when you least expect it! Say, two years later when you discover she/he is your husband's best friend boss or at worse a near relative.
   
   
10. If you don't have them already, 10 years later your kids will know that you also went to rave parties and rolled up 'you-know-whats! So you won't have any control over them.

Now you are warned. Do feel free to add to this list of reasons using the comments box. And remember that while jury is still out on how much privacy you should expect, you are still the judge of how much you should reveal. 

BTW, the pic is from my Facebook profile ;-)