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.

Just what do marketing agencies do these days, if companies are increasingly turning to regular folks to create their jingles and add campaigns? The latest to step into the user-generated content fray is McDonald's, which is reviving its classic jingle from 1974, "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun."

The user part is to create a new version of the jingle -- using the same words, in the same order -- and post it on MySpace.com. They have received over 1,000 submissions so far, and you can vote on the top five, who are all men, interestingly enough.

The New York Times digs into the background of the ad and all the particulars of the campaign, including touching base with the original creator of the slogan, Keith Reinhard, who is "thrilled" that the jingle is being revived.

Nothing much is new under the sun in advertising, of course. McDonald's is touting this campaign as a major revival of the jingle for Big Mac's 40th anniversary, but it has revived it in the past for other commercial campaigns. Other products have also tried the user-generated concept. Doritos did it in a much bigger way during the Super Bowl last year.

I actually prefer when companies pull out old campaigns like this and re-run them as they were originally. It livens up the hyper-stylized marketing of today's TV ads and gives you a sense of perspective.

I was only a toddler when the first version of this McDonald's ad came out, but I certainly remember the slogan, and probably every other McDonald's commercial of my childhood. There was even a hand-slapping game that we used to play at camp to the tune of McDonald's food itmes (Big Mac, Filet of Fish, Quarter Pounder, French fries, icy coke, thick shake...does anyone remember the rest?). But I cannot tell you the gist of any recent advertising campaigns.

If you're up for a challenge, you could try out our Brand Slogans Quiz.

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.

Welcome to WalletPop's series "You've graduated. Now what?" Our bloggers have a wealth of suggestions to help you find you way through that time of amazing transformation, from student to working stiff.

You've matriculated, and now it's time to offer your gifts to the working world. You might start by reviewing your image on the internet.

Don't be surprised if perspective prospective employers check out your MySpace, Facebook and other web pages. All too many job hunters have been undone by their own photos of debauchery and tales of drunken or stoned spring vacations posted to their web site.

This goes for other, lesser known sites, as well, including Bebo, Badu, Black Planet, Classmates.com, Friendster, Habbo...and dozens of others.

Cleaning up these pages is only a start, though. Googling yourself might reveal your presence on other people's sites. If you can find a picture of yourself on the internet puking after a night of Jello shots, I guarantee a savvy HR person or company hired to check out job candidates can too.

Even after you've taken these steps, you're not out of the woods. The internet site "Wayback Machine" archives snapshots of the internet, so some of your past indiscretion might be accessible.

And after you land that sweet job, don't drop your defenses. Entrepenuer.com recently ran an article about the topic, including the story of an intern that was fired after company officials found that, on his Facebook page, he confessed that his workday habits included "screwing around on IM" and "talking to my friends and getting paid for it."

The best advice is, of course, keep your shirt on and you camera in your pocket when indulging in recreations that might cause employers to question your character. Wait until you've retired; then you raise hell all you want and let the world know about it.

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.