A few social networking privacy tips

A few ways social networkers can help protect their privacy:

— Provide enough information for your friends to be able to identify you — but not so much that someone could use information to steal your identity. There's no reason to include your entire resume, from education to work history.

— Consider making your profile private so people you don't know can't ''scrape'' information and images from it.

— Even if your profile is private, remember that your information and photos also can be accessed by third parties through your friends — and through applications developers on such sites as Facebook and MySpace.

— Remove social networking applications you're not using and check out the creators of those you do install. If something seems suspicious, report it.

— Don't use the same password for social network sites that you do for online accounts that have banking and credit card information.

— Check for updates on privacy policies on various sites you use.

— Never assume that anything you post online is completely private. Trust your instincts. And remember that, ultimately, responsibility for the information, photos and video you post is yours.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project; Adrienne Felt, University of Virginia; Kroll Inc.