I have heard a lot of people tell me that they are frustrated with Facebook changing the layout or Twitter because their tweets are being indexed in google. So they tell me they want to delete their page. At first blush, this sounds fair and good. But then when you think about it…what happens to all that “stuff” you had up on your page when you “delete” your account?
See the way I see it is, when you have an account with Facebook and you’ve got it set up with all the privacy settings just so perfect, then for whatever reason you want to take it down. Perhaps a spouse who thinks it’s not so good his wife is putting sexy photo’s up of herself, or a wife who says “Why do you have 500 female friends?” So you decide it is just easier to delete the account…But if you delete that page…where do all the photo’s where you were drunk in Vegas go? (Oh you don’t get drunk? Well how about your cute kids who you don’t want exposed to anyone but family?) What happens to all those tweets that you had locked down? Your wall posts on Facebook…where does that go?
We know that what you post on the internet remains there forever right? So, if you delete an account that had privacy settings set up…well, aren’t you giving everyone the right to find those photo’s that you really didn’t found in the first place?
Or if you had your tweets on Twitter set to “Protected” then aren’t you just opening up google and the other search engines the right to do whatever they please? It’s just a thought. I think if you took the leap to have a social networking page, then you’re going to have to live with the fact that now, you’ve got to monitor those privacy settings forever and make sure that you don’t accidentally start showing up on the web in a light that you might not want to be in.
And for those folks who say, “This is just another reason that I don’t want to start up on Twitter and Facebook,” well, Twitter is not as confusing as you think. Facebook does have some privacy settings that can make your experience worth it. But if I were you, I wouldn’t put anything on your page that you wouldn’t want the world to see JUST IN CASE.
But perhaps someone can shed some light on the topic. Because Lord knows, this is not something that I am an expert in. Come on and comment for me so we can shed some light on this!
It's The Future Marketing 
Ok so where does the stuff go?? Did I miss it? Is it just in internet space????
Not sure my friend. But my guess is if you delete the page, it will still be indexed by search engines. Be careful what you join in other words if you don’t want to find it floating in cyberspace one day for your grandkids to find…unless you just don’t care!
Like you I am not an expert on this but I wondered the same thing. Where does all the stuff you place on your profile in social networks go?
What I have noticed is, whenever I Google my own name using inverted commas a trick a friend shared with me.
I find a lot of the stuff that I posted both on Twitter and FB among other Social Networks in the over 1000 Google search results that come up just with my name.
I also notice that many of my Social Network profiles come up in the results also. Like Myspace, Linkedin etc
At first this bothered me but then I thought that if I wanted to get noticed online this is one of the hazards I have to face.
It would be nice if someone who really knows where all this stuff goes can comment here and shed some light for the rest of us.
But a good place to start is to Google your own “name” you may be surprised at what your will find.
Thanks Sylva for the great post those of us with inquiring minds would sure love to know.
No problem – I hope we get some feedback soon from an expert as well. Thanks for the comment!
You’re welcome and I must say that I love your bolg. I learned quite a bit from the little I have read so far.
You will sure see me here often. Smile