That naive tweet can land you in legal trouble

Think before venting feelings in cyberspace
Whatever people are expressing on such sites can be recorded forever. So it can be used as primary evidence in some cases. Even your superiors can easily know if you are spreading any rumours and gossip about the company's prospects or badmouthing your senior colleagues or bosses. So everyone must think well before they express their anger, publicise tittle-tattle or sensitive information on such networking sites. Moreover people are not aware that uploading pictures is unsafe on these sites. Anyone can misuse your pictures and can also create wrong profiles in your name. Even though there are strict laws for misusing someone’s pictures or creating profiles using someone else’s photographs. But if you complain the legal procedure in such cases takes a very long time to bring culprits to book, sometimes it takes two decades to get justice.
Vijay Mukhi, cyber expert

Offline social etiquette applies online too
An individual needs to take care while writing, texting and tweeting because even after you have deleted a particular tweet, it may not have been deleted forever from cyberspace. Hence people need to be discreet about what they feel. Due to the proliferation of internet technology, difference between online and offline world is blurring. However the social etiquette that one follows offline applies even in the online world. There have been instances in organisations when the boss has been the subject of ire on social media without realising that the individual has been tracking the goings-on. I do not see any disadvantages of using social networking sites, like Orkut, Facebook or even Twitter. Users must maintain a certain limit of decency and civility. Days of anonymity are passé, people can track you down through various profiles that are created on social networking sites or even by tracking through IP addresses.   
Moksh Juneja, social media marketing consultant, Avignyata Inc 

Be circumspect about what you discuss 
Disadvantages of social networking sites have been brought to our notice by various incidents, which have been reported in the media in the past few months. People should be more conscious about what they discuss and write on networking sites as it is viewed by all. Every person has a different mindset; written comments can agitate or offend certain people, who in turn, can use it to create trouble. I don't discuss my personal or professional life on social networking sites since it's too risky. Most people have the list of relatives, colleagues, superiors on their profiles, such public information can be misused.              Saloni Rishiraj, consultant

Sites must let netizens know about clauses
People are yet to know the dos and don’ts about social networking sites. These portals can damage a person’s image publicly. But I’m yet to know how such sites will let their users know about its disadvantages. Social networking sites are used by people to let their kin and kith know what they are up to, but taking them as legal evidence is unjustified. One cannot vouch for the authenticity of the updates put up by users. I use Twitter and Facebook for work as well personal use. I tweet about my whereabouts, opinions or emotions on such networks, but I don’t think they should be taken as ‘evidence’ in legal matters.    Namita Ved, PR exec

Secure your tweets and profile page
I'm aware that what we express on social networking sites can be read by millions of people, since it is in public domain. For instance, once my mother managed to check my profile page. Since then I always take care in disclosing any personal information. Even for security reasons, I don't add any stranger as my friend. Moreover hacking is common so I don't keep important data on networking sites. I have 'locked' my profile through the option provided. I communicate sensibly with friends in cyberspace. I'm aware that our conversation on such websites can be treated as primary and secondary evidence in case of a legal hassle.
 Mihir Pathare, engineering student           

People not acquainted with darker side
People in this country think social media is simply fun and entertaining. They are not even remotely acquainted with the adverse consequences it may have. Social media is largely and popularly just a casual way of virtually socialising without any strings attached. The biggest asset of social media is the fact that, here people express their uncensored opinions and feelings on just about anything in the world. They feel it makes them ‘popular’ among friends and other users. Now if this very characteristic of social media sites becomes a bane for users, then these social media applications will lose their sheen and significance completely. I honestly don’t interact on social networking sites as much as my peers do, but I keep a tab on what my friends are doing.    
Tushar Dhiman, management student

Innocuous comments may be misconstrued   
People are unaware of the shortcomings and proper use of social media. Sharing contact details, residential addresses, information about bank accounts and pictures is not a safe practice. Such information can be easily misused by people and easily accessed even by strangers. Sometimes people are aware of the consequences, but wake up only when something goes wrong. Using a person’s online activity as evidence could be useful only in some cases. It could possibly be misleading and sometimes an innocuous comment could be blown out of proportion. People could find themselves in a soup, which they may not have created consciously.              
Yosef Bamnolkar, social media exec

From now, I’ll be careful while using them
Because the Constitution guarantees us freedom of speech and expression, we like to use it to convey our feelings. Therefore we don’t hesitate from voicing our views on public forums, however most are blissfully unaware that our posts can be used against us by the legal authorities. There is lack of awareness about the usage of social networking and microblogging sites and their legal ramifications. Since I don’t know much about law matters, I stay away from things that can land me in a legal soup. Although, I have discussed work or personal life with friends on such sites earlier, now I will be more careful.                    
Ritwik Saxena, software engineer

Have separate work and social profiles  
Being an HR professional, I need to socialise. Networking sites help me be in touch with all my friends and colleagues. I knew that pictures uploaded could be misused. Moreover I maintain two different social networking profiles for my office and personal use. In this way I keep my professional and personal data separate. But I'm not aware that whatever I express on networking and microblogging sites can be regarded as evidence. Everyone must think twice before writing anything negative about anybody. If these expletives can be used as primary evidence, then many users get into trouble.     
Yatin Mistry, junior HR executive