Mum’s the word

He’s said it before, but let’s hear it from him again.

Paull reminds us that while it’s good to learn about social media, you should consider the fingerprints you are leaving. Not only will you be Googled, but employers can check your MySpace and Facebook profiles. His advice: don’t expose any part of your life you wouldn’t be happy to have your mother read about.

Famous people have always lived with the threat of their earlier lives being revealed by indiscreet or mischievous ‘friends’. But historians and biographers will in future have a mass of new information to set against the decline in letter writing and personal diaries.