As for your other question about privacy, there are some challenging questions all people must answer here. I am preparing a more in-depth post about this (be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it), but in the meantime, I have thoughts from the perspective of small and independent business owners.

1. Privacy Is What You Make It. It's pretty clear that a business will be far less successful if it does not have an online presence, and in more than one place. Increasingly, those “places” are locations where you not only describe your products and make them easy for people to purchase securely, but where you also interact with them on a personal level. You draw this line wherever you want it by setting boundaries around what you share and what questions you answer.

2. Sharing Does Not Mean Compromising. You can share things about you and your life to allow your customers and prospects to get to know you a little, but you don't have to compromise your values and privacy. Don't share your political views. Don't share your religious views. Don't share your moral and/or ethical leanings. Don't accept everyone's friend requests. Tell people if they've asked a question you don't want to answer for privacy reasons. Finding this balance is different for everyone depending on what their business is and what they feel comfortable with as human beings.

3. It's Not Black And White, and It's A Process. There are no easy, pat answers. There is a lot of gray and we have to remember that it's a process. It happens over time. If you say today, I will never post a photo of my child online, that's fine, but you may change your mind next year when you add toddler clothes to your line. That's just a quick and easy example, but you get my drift I hope. All of this requires us to continually analyze our lives, what we want from our of life and business and what we are willing to share with others in order to get what we want.

Having said all of this, the reality is that technology is making it easier for people to obtain information they would not have just a few years ago. I read yesterday that 70% of HR hiring professionals have rejected at least one candidate for a job based solely on something they saw about that person on line. Of course, who knows whether what they saw was true or not. This means that for most people, especially young people, they will have no choice but to create some sort of online information about themselves that they control. This will counter all of the FaceBook photos their party pals may have tagged them in. Again, another example, but hopefully, you get my point.

Here's what I think is most critical — that we train our children to understand that they must have boundaries. That we make sure that they learn how to enforce those boundaries BEFORE they head off to college. By that time, it's too late. While they are in our homes and under our control, we have to introduce them to all of the good and bad that technology offers, empower them to make choices and then encourage their confidence to be private individuals with a public persona, rather than the other way around.

I hope this helps you, Sandra, and I can't wait to here what others think of these ideas.