Allan Cockerill, who writes Coffee with Allan Cockerill is no stranger here. He’s written frequent guest posts, including the 10 Minute Guide to Facebook – Adding Friends, that still gets hits on Google, 7 months after it was posted!

When Allan told me he was thinking of making some changes and moving different topics to new blogs, I knew the perfect place for his social media writing.

Allan is the Facebook expert I call on whenever I have questions. He has been instrumental in bringing attention to much needed changes in some Facebook apps (such as the ones that required you to add friends before you could use them).

Allan is also the one who pointed out to me that my fears over Facebook’s TOS were not unfounded, when he showed me Wink and all the information that can be found there.

In addition to Facebook, Allan enjoys playing on other social sites as well. Off the top of my head, I know he can be found on Friend Promote, Blog Catalog, StumbleUpon, and Plurk. Stop by and say Hi on any of those sites.

If you can’t tell, I’m excited about this! I hope you will enjoy it as well, especially since it means more posts here.

This month marks the 3 year anniversary of SU Comments! To celebrate our birthday, we’re making a few changes, including the unveiling of a new and faster layout that I hope you’ll like as much as I do.

In the article he talks about the cons of using an avatar or user name different than your own name, a discussion that struck home, since I actually use both.

Now let me say first, that for the average internet user, I still believe that privacy is more important than recognition. In other words, if you’re not doing business online then it’s better to be safe and stay as anonymous as possible.

If you are doing business online, identifying yourself might not be a bad idea, but even so, I suggest considering it carefully first, especially if you’re adverse to finding your information showing up somewhere like Wink or Intellus.

When I started this blog, my user name and avatar were easy choices, I used the same ones I’ve used on SU for years. Teeg is a shortened version of my real name, Te-ge (pronounced Teeg E or T G).

I do use my picture for my avatar on Facebook, but when I started out on SU, my son was a toddler, and he fell in love with the Pooh picture. He’d look for it everytime I went online. Having it as my avatar meant that I could work on my StumbleUpon page and he’d be totally content while I was doing it.

After he got older, I considered changing my avatar, but too many friends asked me not to, so I’ve been Pooh ever since. If you’d like to see what I really look like, here is a link to my Facebook profile. Feel free to add me as a friend.

So what do you think? Is it better to share your information or do safety and security outweigh other considerations? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Wink gathers your information from various social sites and then sells advertising space to information companies so they can help people find out more information about you. Right now, their biggest advertiser seems to be Intellius, which means that people who don’t live in the US are safe for the time being, but if you live in the US and have used Facebook, myspace, Linkedin, Friendster, or Xanga, be warned. Having your information on Wink means that by clicking the link for more information (which isn’t obvious until after the fact that it takes you off site) anyone can find a list of cities you’ve lived in and known family members. For a small fee ($2.95 -$7.95) they can find out your current address, date of birth, telephone number, income, home value, relatives and associates, not to mention running background and criminal checks.

Scared yet?

I’ve explored the Wink site this morning. There’s no opt-out option, which would make me happy. Even the telephone company allows me to have an unlisted number.

Now, Wink says they gather information from Twitter, but my Twitter account isn’t listed on there. Not sure why, but I’m definitely not fussing.

I’ve written before that I don’t like the Facebook TOS. This is exactly the type of issue I was afraid of when I first read their terms, and it seems that they didn’t learn a lesson with Beacon, and still aren’t telling people when your information is given out…or giving you the option to opt out before it is shared.

But I have finally broken down and changed my facebook profile to private. I have removed all applications, although I hated removing some of them. And still, I’m in danger of having my information shared, according to this sentence about Privacy and Applications: Applications may be able to access a limited set of information about you through friends who opt in to other applications. Scroll further down to see “Share my name, networks, and list of friends, as well as..” and 18 other items that Facebook is willing to share with applications your friends (not you) use, including education history, personal info, current location, work history, relationship status, etc.

In order to stop that, you have to select “Do not share any information about me through the Facebook API.” If you can’t select it, a pop-up box will explain that you are currently using applications that use the API. But here’s the rub, I am unable to select it, and I have no applications on Facebook. None, zilch, nada. Not sure yet how to fix that, but I’ll keep looking.

So what do you think? Is privacy an important issue to you? How do we stay safe in the “Information Age?”

Dear Friends, I’m so sorry I haven’t written in a while. After almost a week of internet issues, the sinus infection I’ve had off an on all winter got bad enough that I felt like I had the flu.Finally, Ken decided enough was enough and took me, kicking and screaming, to the doctor, who prescribed antibiotics and a new sinus med, so hopefully soon I’ll be back up and running.

Allan Cockerill, a good friend I’ve mentioned a few times before, noticed that I hadn’t been posting much lately and offered a guest post. I gladly accepted and hope all of you enjoy this review of a recently revised Facebook app.

If you haven’t visited Allan’s blog before, I thoroughly recommend it. Allan is a great writer who talks about Australia, Facebook, Social networking, family, values, videos (most recently, one of my favorite songs by the Eagles), and more on his blog, Coffee with Allan Cockerill.

By the way, if you would like to write a guest post while I’m recovering feel free to send me a message or leave a comment on here, send me a note on StumbleUpon, @me on Twitter, or contact me on Facebook.

By Guest Blogger: Allan Cockerill

A quiet Sunday afternoon in late summer here in Australia, and I received a message with what looked like a nice cold beer from one of my Facebook friends.

He’d found the Cool Greeting cards application and sent me an invitation.

This was one of the applications that has been lambasted in recent times for forcing invitations to friends before being able to access key features.

This requirement has now been dropped, and I’m now happy to recommend it.

I always like to try an application before recommending it to friends.

Realistically, how can I comment on the merit of something, whether it’s an application, movie or restaurant, before trying it myself?

If I like it, I recommend it and invite friends.

Cool Greeting Cards has a range of cards for Christmas, Birthdays and Valetines’ day etc.

There are new cards and images being added regularly, so it is well worth a look if you want to send your Facebook friends something a little bit different.

Cool Greeting Cards can be found by going here!

Did you know that clicking on my Facebook Profile Badge you can go to my profile, and add me as a friend?

I’d love to get to know my readers, as well as friends from other social networking sites on Facebook.

If you’re signed in to Facebook, you will go directly to my public profile, and be able to add me as a friend.

If you’re wondering how to access your own profile badge, wonder no more!

Simply go to the bottom of your profile page, where you will see a couple of links, including the one to the badge, and the profile layout.

Simply click on the badge link, and follow the instructions!

Grab your badge, and paste it into your blog or website.

Now, for a nice, long cold beer…

What is the maximum number for friends I can have?

These are the two most common search terms which bring people to my blog.

The answer to the first question is: I don’t know, and nobody seems to know for sure, but 20 to 30 seems to be the accepted figure.

I have added more, but slowed right down because I started hearing about people having their accounts deactivated for adding friends too aggressively.

Facebook is very conscious of spam, and is committed to blocking it in whatever way they can, even at the risk of being seen as heavy handed.

People who add friends quickly could be seen to have an ulterior motive, such as building a list to sell products to at a later date.

It should always be remembered that Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, StumbleUpon, etc are Social Networking Sites, where you can network with friends and business associates, but the emphasis is on social.

Stray too far off course, and you can expect a bit of strife from the site, and maybe even have your account suspended.

I myself would recommend adding no more than 10 friends in a day, and wait until all the invitations that I have sent out have been responded to.

Personally, I would concentrate on adding people as friends that I know from elsewhere to start with.

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.