Oi you, are you stalking me?

I don't give a damn what anybody says...

We all cyberstalk our friends and relatives via facebook.

Even by you reading this blog, you're cyberstalking me, in a way, anyway.

By having that simple facebook account, you are opening yourself up to be cyberstalked. Everybody cyberstalks, only some people don't have the bollocks to own up to it. You see that someone you went to school with has got married, so you have a nosey at the photos, you judge them, and mock them. Someone else has had a baby, and they (worryingly) post pictures all over their facebook account of their children. I'm not the only one that does this...

I'm obsessed with facebook. It rules my life. As long as I have credit on my phone, I can access it from there as well as my computer. And the stalking possibilities are endless...

My fiancé is number one on my cyberstalking list, why you might add, well let me tell you. We practically live together, and he tells me everything anyway, but for some strange reason, I constantly check his facebook page. It's not because I don't trust him, I know his password so if I didn't trust him, I could just log on as him and check it thoroughly. It's simply because I don't want to feel left out.

My best friends come next on the list. I don't want to feel left out in their lives either, so of course, stalking them via facebook is the only way of knowing every tiny detail of their lives!

As soon as you open up your facebook account, you are asking to get stalked. You update your status once, twice, five times a day, some people go overboard and update theirs every 5 bloody minutes! You tell your facebook friends every detail, where you're going to be, who you're going to be with, what time you're going to be with them.

Your facebook friends see your other friends wall posts, get to read your conversations, know your plans. They can see your relationship status, comment on it, see the name of your partner, how long you've been together, they can see your parents names, your siblings names, your childrens names and ages. They can see your religious views, your political views, your sexual orientation, your date of birth, your home town, your mobile phone number. You enter a list of your favourite activities, your favourite bands/singers, your favourite movies and books, your likes and dislikes. You inform everyone where you work, and where you were or are educated and what courses you are taking.

Every single aspect of your life is opened up for the world to see. Your nights out are publicised, and various photos are added the next day of you in various states of drunkness, for example...

I have no recollection of when in the night this picture was taken, all I know is that it appeared on facebook within days of said night out...

Not good really.

And all of these pictures your friends are adding? Their friends can see them all too.

And you have absolutely fuck all control over that.

Over 400 million people currently use facebook.

Think of all those people out there that are just DYING to find out your details.

Technology has advanced to a point where we all own computers, and we all have internet access (I appreciate that not everybody in the world has a computer or internet access, but majority do, ok?) The sheer amount of people with a facebook account shows that everyone is seemingly oblivious to the cyberstalking that can occur. Obviously, I only check up on my partner and friends, in a concerned, looking out for their well being, I'm just being a little bit nosey way. But there are far too many people out there who cyberstalk for very terrifying reasons.

Many cyberstalkers post false information about someone, by means of Wikipedia, blogs, or by setting up a webpage or group on facebook. They encourage others to harass the victim, send viruses to damage the victim's computer. Young people face a particularly high risk when asked to meet someone from the internet also.

Cyberstalkers use search engines, and social networking sites to find information about you.

Do you want them to see your goofy pictures from Christmas, your little Nephew or Neice running around in a nappy?

Check your bloody privacy settings, put them as high as they can go and be careful who you talk to online. And do not give your details to anybody is the advice we are given.

Who knows, maybe the government might be right about something... Shame they don't take better care of their delicate documents eh?