“That moment when [you] have to scratch your boobs because they are so itchy but you can’t because [you’re] in public … only girls can understand.” This real status update is but a taste of what I see on my Facebook news feed everyday.

From girls ranting about their periods to guys constantly posting from “Yeah, She Squats” or “Real Asian Babes” pages, some people share too much information online, especially on Facebook.

Most people in their teens to mid-twenties do not care or understand there is a privacy issue, further fueling the fire. Students forget the more they post about their lives, the more their safety and privacy online are at risk.

Facebook was referenced in investigations of murder, rape, child sex offenses, assault, kidnapping, death threats, witness intimidation and fraud, according to Mail Online, a news website.

Facebook users must remember there are people who take advantage of their information. I admittedly joined the bandwagon of posting my location whenever I ate out or hung out with friends. After a while, I realized Facebook was taking too much information, even when I was not on the website.

If Facebook was opened in a different tab on my browser while I was researching a hotel or shopping online, it somehow collected data on the items I searched the most and knew to advertise them on my news feed.

According to author Joe Martin, writing for PC Pro Magazine, we live in an increasingly connected world, where our digital identities are replicated and spread over thousands of servers and services.

“Most [services], such as Facebook and Amazon, will typically use [our] information to send targeted advertising,” Martin wrote. “Less scrupulous services will sell our details, or cynically manipulate us into staying subscribed for longer.”

A person who shares too much information has no right to complain if it ever backfires with a future job interview, or the government ends up secretly using their information.

Almost every company has access to your personal information, gaining more every time you join a new service, such as a dating website. How often do people go back and delete sites they no longer use, such as Myspace? People who post half-naked rave pictures are aware they are sharing their personal lives with consent, whether it stays on Facebook or not.