The Web has become a major information and communication tool, with hundreds of new networking platforms being created every single day. Social sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Viadeo, Twitter, Google Buzz and FriendFeed now play a very important role in a lot of people's everyday lives. However, many are concerned about online privacy issues.

Online privacy has become a trendy topic. Even traditional media regularly cover this topic, as Facebook (and other networking platforms) modify their privacy policy almost every week. How can you take full advantage of these great communication tools and not worry at all about online privacy issues? Is this even possible? It's very difficult to answer these questions but here are a few tips that you should follow...

First, before signing up to a social site, you should read its terms and conditions and privacy policy. This is the only way to be 100% sure to know if your private information will be safe or not. If the terms and conditions and privacy policy are too long to read, do a search in Google and you should be able to find a summary. There are now a lot of information sites specialized in online privacy issues.

Always consider that the information you put online may be viewed by any internet user. Even if this is actually not the case, you should try to keep that in mind. While it's pretty cool to upload your party pics on Facebook, this might actually not be a great idea... Make sure this is something you avoid if you're looking for a job for example. According to studies, there are now a lot of employers googling for the names of candidates.

Avoid putting your full birth date, street address and phone number on your Facebook profile. Who really needs to know which year you were born, where you are currently living and what your phone number is... besides marketers? Social networks already make it easy enough to get in touch with other people. if you want to get in touch with you, they'll message you, don't worry!

Now if you start to think that you shouldn't have uploaded some of your pictures on Facebook or tweeted without moderation, don't worry too much. You can (most of the time) delete any of the content you have put online. Always remember, anyone can go online (and potentially access your information): your family, your friends, your colleagues, your potential employers... and total strangers! Consider the Web as a public place!