Though it may be obvious to most everybody, I must reiterate that it is all possible that anybody can see any public Web site or blog. When I say public, I am speaking of any Web page which is not password-protected or is in a “walled garden” like a company Intranet or Facebook. In other words, if it’s out there, it’s out there.

In the early days of the Web, most everybody who was putting information on the Web was putting too much information out there. Present company included! We all got wise as to how to structure and craft content to meet the needs of the Web visitor as well as ourselves and became more strategic about what was put out there for all to see. But with the proliferation of Web platforms where anyone could publish content, you would start to see more and more go out there than was required or necessary. It started with sites like Geocities and has continued to blogging platforms like WordPress, where anyone can publish a blog for free.

Believe it or not, much thought goes into what I write, namely as I write it in Word before I post it. But I continue to read people’s blogs and Web sites where they put too much information out there. What do I mean? Everything from family photos to vacation schedules to start qualify as too much information. I have talked to some people about this and they tell me nobody but close friends know the link to the blog or Web site. Where that may be the case, it is still a public link, and anybody has the potential to see it, and use it to your disadvantage.

Think strategically when you put information on the Web. If it is information for everybody to see, craft the message and create a Web design to make it easy to do so. But if it is private information, consider password-protection on the Web page, or just don’t post it at all. For if it is out there, it’s out there.

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