Personal Relationships Matter
There's one other category that's a bit of judgment call, and that's the "relationship status" field in Facebook. On one hand, you must choose whether or not you want to share if you're married or in a significant relationship.
If your spouse or significant other is on Facebook, you have the option to link to their name and profile: "In a relationship with Jane Smith," for instance.
Dixson says some people, even if in relationships, don't fill out the field altogether. Others, she says, choose to add "In a relationship" or "Married" but not add the link to their spouse's or significant others name, believing it's nobody's business.
If you're single, or find that you have relationships not on solid footing, Dixson says, it may be wise not to fill out the field at all. If, for instance, you leave a relationship and that bit of information is broadcasted in your Friends' newsfeeds (which, again, you could shut off in the privacy settings), you don't want a co-worker correlating you being irritable one day at work to that event.
Watch Out for Guilt by Association
Though it's not right, you can be judged professionally by associating yourself with people who behave badly. Voters saw this in Barack Obama's run for the toughest job interview process in the country as his opponents tried to tie him to the 1960s anti-war activist, William Ayers.
On your Facebook page, your friends (even the ones you adore) can be the biggest wild card. In particular, Dixson says to watch for wall posts with inside jokes that someone on your friend list might find offensive.
One way to monitor this: keep yourself updated on key actions that happen on your profile so you can react to them in real-time. Since many of us keep e-mail in our pocket, you can set up e-mail notifications to let you know that someone has commented on your wall or status, or tagged you in a photo from Saturday night. Often, these e-mails include what was said. So if something looks like it doesn't belong, you know to quickly log into Facebook and delete it.
(To set these notifications, go to the "settings" link in the upper right hand corner of your homepage, click on "account settings," and click on the "Notifications" tab).
However you decide to regulate your profile information, Hardey says, it's a work in progress for all of us and, again, remember the power of your privacy settings.
"We are still coming to terms with how to control our own social information," she says. "So the addressing of privacy is in the power of the many, but only on the radar of the few. Which is why this continues to be such a popular topic for my blog."
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