Facebook Security

A great afternoon and evening talking with the coaches, administrators and student-athletes at the University of West Alabama about social media on Monday.  Taking two events and putting them together in this new presentation, I came to a new "meme" to share:

Your social media security isn't dependent on your settings, it's dependent on your friends.

Many remember a few years ago when cell phone pics of pro players and college stars became the rage all over the internet.  Tim Tebow at a bar and in particular, Steve Spurrier relieving himself in the woods at Augusta National in 2007.

There were only seven people who could have taken the picture of Spurrier and posted it online -- and four of them were the caddies who I seriously doubt would have done so (they'd be immediately fired, although Deadspin contended that is where the photo came from).  So that leaves the three golfers in Steve's foursome -- ostensibly one of his friends both took the photo and let it get into the wild.

Fast-forward to the Jacob Cox drunk driving parked car hit-and-run.  It was two of his friends that forwarded his Facebook post to the Astoria, Ore., police.

It reinforces the fact that no matter what protections you might take -- locking down a Twitter feed to private or Facebook to be viewed by friends only -- once it is posted for the world to see, those digital assets are easily copied and shared.