It's cute to tell the world that you're leaving on a week-long vacation, isn't it? Especially if you're a popular mommy blogger who has a wide following. I mean, who wouldn't want to know that you're going on the vacation of lifetime and will be out of touch for a week?

Well thieves apparently love it! I've long thought that sites like Twitter are a gold mine for criminals. So many users of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites have absolutely no filter, and tell the world where they are, when they're there, and when they're coming back. They're so happy to share every detail about their lives and what they're doing, and you better believe someone is listening and taking notes.

What a perfect setup for someone who wants to break into their houses and steal their things. It's not hard to find out someone's address, even when they take precautions to conceal it. Ever heard of Google Street View? It gives you nice street level pictures of houses in metropolitan areas. Take about casing the joint with just a click of your mouse!

Social networking users need to understand that no one really wants to know their every move. My day will go on if I don't know what you had for breakfast or where you're going with your kids tonight. I don't need to know when your vacation is scheduled, nor when your next doctor's appointment is. Protect yourself and your family, because you don't know who is reading your updates and planning a crime against you.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The social networking evangelists are telling everyone to jump on board the social media train, especially if you're a small business owner. It's being hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread, and a "must-do" for business owners, but I'm in favor of a more moderate approach. I want to share my personal experience with social media, and how it has (and has not) helped me grow my business.

For this article, my comments will refer to three types of social media:

• Blogging -- A site just like WalletPop, where articles are posted and comments from readers are often encouraged. Business owners will often write their own material, gearing it toward the interests of their clients.
• Twitter -- A kind of "mini blog" in which posts are limited to 140 characters, offering business owners an opportunity to do a quick update or link to an item of interest on another site.
• Social Networking – Sites like Facebook or MySpace, in which users create full-blown profiles of themselves and link to others to share contacts and information.

I work with social media on a limited basis, because I feel it has limited usefulness to a business owner. Some social networking evangelists will likely want to burn me at the stake for saying the usefulness is limited, but it's true.

Once upon a time, a resume was a piece of paper, a single sheet that listed the applicant's qualifications, contact information, and references. It was short, it was controllable, and it was discreet.

Nowadays, however, the resume is only the beginning: Any employer worth his salt will conduct an extensive search of the online profile of every job applicant. Unless the applicant is careful, those pictures from Spring Break will inevitably surface, leading the prospective employer to ask whether he or she really wants to hire Cancun's Beer Bong Champion of 2007.

Of course, it's not all that hard to clear up most of your online profile. You start by simply pulling out all of the fun and incriminating pictures, movies, and testimonials from your Facebook and MySpace pages. Once you're done with that, go to all of your non-anonymous web pages and take down anything that would make your mother cringe. Finally, Google your name and make sure there's nothing else out there that you need to worry about. Clear out all the sites that you can access and see what you can do about the others.

From what I hear, a few generations ago personal phone calls at work were an action which could bring down the boss' wrath. Nowadays most offices will tolerate the occasional personal phone call, especially with the prevalence of cell phones. However, it seems that Facebook and personal email have replaced the phone call as the scorn of office managers and company bean counters across the nation. As of November 2007 a survey showed that 25% of employers blocked Facebook access and 46% blocked access to MySpace mostly based on the idea that the sites are a productivity drain.

A recent survey of "young" employees found that a third of them would quit, yes leave their employer if their workplace blocked Facebook. Granted, severe internet restriction could be indicative of other environmental problems but still, leaving your job based on browsing restrictions seems a bit extreme.

Read Write Web reports on a survey recently performed by Worklight, a company specializing in web 2.0 services, regarding online banking. The survey of Facebook users found that 48% of them would make use of online widgets to manage finances if their bank offered the service. A more detailed response goes on to show that the most likely group to use these would be males in the 25-34 year old range. The use of online widgets to perform banking tasks or track spending levels have not been widely used to date due to security and compatibility issues.

Web 2.0 is a rather loose term which many people associate with social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook but in reality it can be used to describe tools which ease the flow of information as well as allow you to access it on a variety of devices. Ideally, users could take advantage of these web 2.0 widgets to track the balances of their checking, savings, and retirement accounts, all on one page, all while also viewing the amount due on any outstanding credit cards, student loans or mortgage payments. Right now you can achieve this one screen approach only with a dedicated program and the time it takes to constantly update the information.

When I was getting ready to finance my college education, (after hitting up my parents) I looked to Federal Pell grants and the beloved FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). But things have changed, and in the age of Facebook and online interconnectivity, it only makes sense that students are utilizing these new tools for borrowing.

Several companies have popped up in recent months that allow students to tap into cyber-resources. On Fynanz.com, students design a profile detailing goals, interests and financial need, and then non-institutional lenders can shop through profiles based on majors, academic institutions or other interests.

The terms are set by the student, who can choose to start paying it back immediately, pay only the interest, or wait up to 20 years. Rates are between 7% and 12%, a good chunk cheaper than the 16% that's more common for private loans.

GreenNote.com, which launches June 4, seeks to utilize a student's social network to solicit friends and family to contribute to a college fund. Much like Fynanz, the student creates a profile with personal details and academic interests. However, then the student invites friends and family to contribute, and hopefully, pass on the profile to other community members. There's something very encouraging about people being able to support young people they know, or who are in their circle, with small loans.

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Does it really surprise anyone that employers are cracking down on the use of social networking sites while at work? Much like pornography and eBay, those sites are best used when you're on your own time, not on your company's paid time.

I know, I know. Young workers need access to Facebook or Twitter like the rest of us need oxygen. It's essential to survival. How can you ever get through a day without knowing that your friend is on the way to the coffee shop to meet a friend or that your sister has just bought the cutest new shoes? Updates every few minutes are essential, because you are dying to know what everyone else is doing while you're... uh.... working. Yeah, working.

A survey in England found that employees are spending at least 30 minutes a day on Facebook or MySpace while they're supposed to be working. A couple of survey participants even admitted that they spend up to three hours a day on social networking sites while at work. Yikes.

Consumers need to be clear on the focus of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. It's not on protecting users. It's on getting more and more users. One of the ways that these sites attract more users is through the addition of features. Sounds great, right? You already like the site, and with more bells and whistles, you'll probably like it even more.

But have you ever stopped to consider what you're agreeing to when you let these applications become a part of your Facebook account? You're opening just another door to your information. Some users of these sites are very careful about what they publish on them, so letting another application access their data isn't a big deal.

Other users, however, end up opening up their entire lives on Facebook. And that's where things get sketchy. Around Christmas, I heard about the Facebook flap that had people's purchases from certain websites being visible to friends and family... that was a big no-no if you made one of those purchases as a holiday surprise for one of those family members or friends.

You signed up for FaceBook or MySpace and eagerly started filling in your profile. Name, check. City, check. Birth date, check. (Gotta have your friends send you happy wishes on your birthday, right?) Job history, check. Spouse, check. Throw in some pictures of yourself and the kids for good measure.

Except there's a catch. Every little bit of information that you add to your profile could be one more piece of the identity theft puzzle. And some information is more telling than you can imagine. Did you add your birth date? That's something that may be better left unpublished, as it is one critical piece of information that banks and credit card companies use to identify you.

Have you hooked up with some family members? That might give a clue to your maiden name, another potential identifier. Even worse... those socializing on genealogy websites might be sharing information like your mother's maiden name, another key piece of information for financial services companies.

Don't take my word for it. Computer security experts say that information shared on social networking sites leaves people very vulnerable to identity theft. And often they don't realize how much information they've shared until it's too late. Tread carefully when sharing information on any website. Before your share your life's story, ask yourself what an identity thief would be able to do with that information.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.