I’ve gotten flack for items I’ve posted on the Internet on more than one occasion. Whether it was a picture from a party that my parents saw, a Facebook note that was a little too personal or a heat-of-the-moment Twitter update talking about a co-worker, I could almost guarantee an angry phone call or worried text message usually within an hour of posting.

It’s an interesting time we live in. We’re expected to update our friends and family about our lives via live blogging, but then we’re frowned upon for sharing too much.

Here are a few tips on how to share your life on the Web without sharing too much.

Keep a personal blog

Keeping a diary seems to be a thing of the past, and yet we still feel the need to write down our thoughts somewhere. Writing down your problems and issues helps to look for redundancies and find solutions. That being said, the entire world doesn’t need to know about how you constantly date bad boys and see you asking yourself why you aren’t attracted to nice guys.

Instead of posting these topics on Facebook, create a personal blog. You don’t have to give the Web address out, and you can share the link with only close friends or family members. There are also privacy settings to make sure your updates can’t be read on Google searches.

Don’t Tweet about everything

I know it’s tempting to Tweet about every moment of your life, especially since Twitter has so many different ways of creating updates.

I have Twitter set up on my cell phone so I can send a text and have it update my account. Twitter and Facebook have also linked up, so Tweets can also be put as your Facebook status.

There are two solutions to this.

The obvious way to keep things private is to just abstain from posting super-personal topics all together. However, if you still feel the need to update every five minutes but don’t want them to be seen by the world, you can change your privacy settings so only people you approve see your updates.

Block certain aspects

One of my favorite features on Facebook is the “Limited Profile” setting. You can add your Facebook friends to this list, and then alter it so they can only see certain parts of your Web page. For example, I’m friends with my younger cousins on Facebook, but I don’t want them to see pictures of me or be able to read my status updates. This is also a great way to make sure your employers don’t see inappropriate pictures your friends posted.

Don’t be afraid to delete

The delete button has become one of my favorite things on the Web.

Many of us have, what I call, “crimes of e-passion,” meaning we post something in a moment of anger or frustration, only to regret it minutes or even seconds after hitting send. Never be afraid to delete something that might stir up some problems, and you can always rewrite it so your point still comes across without swearing or name-calling. Just try to delete it before getting that angry phone call.

Sarah Jean Bresnahan is a senior journalism major and can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].