by Ronnee Ruselle

You may have seen moments in the press where the media and law enforcement among others use sites such as Facebook and Twitter to find information about you. When they want to know anything personal about you, that is often the first place they go.

Unfortunately people forget this and lose court cases, relationships, jobs and great opportunities by forgetting that it is not just their immediate friends reading their posts.

People the world over are seeing who you are by those posts. How you wish people to see you will be determined by what they see on your social media pages. Below are a few tips on etiquette when using social media to help keep your very public profile at its best.

1. If you are in a bad mood, do not log onto social media. Wait until you are in a happier mood. If you do log on and are tempted to use curse words or post something that others may find offensive, type it on a document and wait until the next day before you post it. This gives you the chance to review it and be sure that what you are posting is what you want the world to see about you. It is important to remember that sites like Facebook could be read by anybody depending upon your privacy settings. Children or law enforcement agencies could be reading your posts. This is one of those cases where prevention is definitely better than a cure.

2. Respond politely. Following on from the previous tip, remember that you advertise yourself to the world through these websites and one bad post can ruin future opportunities for you. Written words can often seem more harsh than intended so keep an open mind, be graceful and polite with your replies and remember to keep a sense of humour even if other people do not.

3. Get a trusted friend to review your comment before posting if you are unsure about how your response will be taken. They could help give valuable input.

4. Use online photo albums to store personal or silly photographs. You can have them password protected and still share them with friends. However, if you post them on Facebook the world can see them. Even if you have your profile on private, the images can still show up under search engine image searches. Images can stay in people's minds even longer than your posts and ruin possible opportunities. Keep them tasteful.

Images like this one of Mariah Yeater on Facebook undermined her credibility when she began a paternity suit against Justin Beiber.

5. Do not post anything personal. Firstly, other people do not want to read personal messages between lovers. Anything of a private nature is inappropriate to post on a public forum such as a social networking site. That is best kept to email or phone communication.

Criminals also scan these sites for their victims. *Statistics in the UK show that Facebook related crimes such as paedophilia, rape, blackmail, burglary and murder have trebled in the last year alone and this is happening the world over. For security reasons, it is best to avoid posting photographs of your body, your children or your family.

Also, do not post information on where you live, where your children go to school or information that gives a hint as to your daily routine or that of your family. I'm sure you get the idea. Protect yourself and your family.

Another important rule to adopt is that you should never make dates or appointments with people on social media pages unless they have been checked out by police or you knew them in real life before communicating with them online.

*CRIME by Facebook is booming in Britain by The Sun