Guest post by Lena L. West, Social Media Strategist

If you've read any of my posts here on Lipsticking, by now, you know my take on privacy. It's essential. And, with more people than ever using social networking, it's even more critical to stay ontop of how much information you're REALLY revealing.

One of my friends listens to a popular radio show and over the past couple of months, my friend has been able to pinpoint exactly where this radio show host lives, based on what the host of the show has said and revealed on-air. Now, my friend is totally sane and wouldn't DREAM of going to this person's private home, but, sadly some people are not sane.

The folks at SafetyWeb released their list of tips for keeping our kids safe online, but adults can benefit from the same information as well.

Here's a paraphrased list of SafetyWeb's tips with Lena-swagger added for clarity and emphasis:

• Change your account passwords. Creating new, effective passwords for all of your accounts can prevent identity theft. Mix it up , yet make passwords easy to remember by using combinations of things that have a personal meaning to you. So, while it's NOT ok to use family members' or pet's names, when combined with other numbers or special characters, you've got the makings of a solid password. Remember, even the best passwords should be changed approximately every 3 months - especially ones for banking, etc. It goes without saying that you should never share your password with anyone.

• Check your privacy settings. Many social networking websites, like Facebook (no surprise there!), made multiple changes to their privacy policies during 2010 and if you haven’t maintained your settings, they may have been changed to the site’s default settings. Take the time now to review them on every social networking site you use and make changes where necessary.

• Google yourself. This commonly referred to as an "ego search". Googling you is the first thing people will do when they want to find dirt on you, so stay ahead of the game and learn what’s out there. If you find any suspicious, inappropriate or unauthorized content, report it to the site’s administrator immediately. One of our clients found HORRIBLE things written about her and had to get her attorney involved to get it removed from a blog hosted by Blogspot. It's not a joke out there.

• Don't overshare. Avoid posting photographs and information that reveal identifiable information such as your address, information about your children or any other sensitive data. There are several sites that allow you to connect with people to share your travel itinerary, do so with caution. How many people really need to know when you're leaving home and when you're coming back?

• Disable geotagging on devices. Smart phones often automatically store metadata within any photograph you take and reveal your exact location. Uploading photographs from a smart phone to a social networking site or photo sharing site (like Flickr) may disclose your whereabouts to just about any interested party. Note that Twitter also has a geo-tagging feature that is set “off” as default, but might currently be turned “on” in your account. You do NOT need to be signed up to geo-location services, like Foursquare, for these settings to be active so look into it.

• And, yeah, what about Foursquare? Find out if you have signed up, either consciously or inadvertently, for the popular GPS-based social network in which users “check in” to various locations throughout their city via a cell phone app. It may sound like fun, but like geotagging, sites like Foursquare can jeopardize your safety by divulging your location. I don't actively use Foursquare for precisely this reason.