Friends.  What a nice centerpiece for a multibillion dollar cyber marketplace that provides you with a portal to the world.  What started as a college-based phenomenon has morphed into a universal playground for people with two things:  a computer and time.

Friending, poking, chatting, posting – all fun and games, right?  Wrong. Facebook is a two-way street, and the list of people who will use your Facebook page against you grows daily.  A photo of yourself engaging in questionable activities, posted by you or a friend, may find its way to parents, frat houses or even a new boyfriend or girlfriend.

College authorities view Facebook, looking for underage drinking, and police (including the FBI) view social media for evidence of criminal activity.  The Secret Service has investigated a MySpace threat to President Bush and Facebook threats to President Obama.

If you believe the “security” offered by Facebook and other social media protects you from probing eyes of others, think again.  Investigative firms advertise their ability to bring home the Facebook bacon so they can fry you in court.  Google “investigation firms Facebook” and you will see how many private eyes are looking at social websites.

Prospective employers view Facebook (and other social network) pages to see if a candidate is unsuitable for hiring.  Many law firms do a Facebook check on every prospective employee and have refused to hire people whose web persona is not in keeping with the image they want their firms to portray.

Current employers may monitor employee Facebook pages, often with real consequences.  When you post online while you are supposed to be at your post (desk) doing work, guess how easy that is to figure out.  Your entries are date- and time-stamped.  Your work computer, and everything on it (including emails, Facebook pages and stored passwords), belong to your employer, and that computer can be read or monitored by your boss without your knowledge or permission.   Even banks use Facebook to scrutinize you.

Now, we have litigation invading the Facebook clubhouse. Lawyers look up their clients and opposing parties, and they are not searching for their taste in music.  They are looking for ways you might be embarrassed or impeached (made to look dishonest) in court.  And “Deadbeat Dads” may find a judge staring at a photo of their new car, boat or girlfriend’s jewelry, recently downloaded from Facebook, as they consider the punishment for failing to pay child support.

Facebook is fun, but it is not all games.  In a world increasingly tied to the internet, it is impossible to maintain one persona online and another offline.

In other words:  You are what you post.