With professional and personal life coming together more and more on the social web, sometimes we find ourselves in what I call the "friend and follower" predicament.

How many times have you checked your followers on Twitter to see a co-worker was on the list? Have you gotten a Facebook friend request from your boss or the person you share your cubicle with? Have you posted pictures of a wild night out at the bar? Have you called in work sick and updated your Twitter status 32 times? Your Facebook “friends” and Twitter “followers” can cause quite a dilemma- they could even get you fired.

Case in point, a would-be Cisco employee made a huge mistake when he posted this message to Twitter:

"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Needless to say, Cisco found out about this and was not happy. Though the would-be employee almost immediately set his Twitter account to private, it was too late! This silly tweet showed extremely bad judgment and cost him a job.

In another example, a woman who was Facebooking while out sick was fired her job. The unnamed woman said she had to be away from her computer monitor and lay in the dark, but was then seen to be active on Facebook. Her Facebook updates caused her to loose her job!

So how do you protect yourself?

Many social networking sites allow you to set your profile to private. This option allows you to choose who can see your profile and updates. For someone to see your information, you would have to “friend” them-giving them permission to see your profile. This is different from a public profile, which allows all users to see your information. Many other sites, like Facebook, offer privacy settings that allow you to hide certain information from users. That way, you can friend someone- but not give them access to your interests, wall, updates, etc.

Twitter also allows you to hide your updates- you would have to approve someone before they could see your tweets.

If you do not protect your tweets on Twitter, anyone can see them- whether they follow you or not.
But what do you do if your boss or a co-worker "friends" you? Many people see social networking as something personal and not part of our professional work lives- but this is now a very gray area. My advice: if you are going to accept one co-worker, you need to accept them all. As silly as it sounds, denying a request from on co-worker and approving another can cause problems. The co-worker might think you dislike him or her or they might think you are hiding something. You can always use the privacy settings. Be smart about it- don’t call off sick and post pictures from a party the night before! Being friends with co-workers and management can also be beneficial. Your boss might see your blog, art you drew, or an idea you had about your industry- which might mean a promotion or a new project.

Personally, I accept all friend requests I get on social networking sites and my Twitter updates are public. Why? Because it’s the Internet, people! If I wanted something to be private and personal, I would write it in my diary, not on my Facebook! Don't put anything on social networking sites you wouldn't want your boss- or mother- to see.

Social networking sites can be a great tool in both our professional and personal lives. If you use them correctly, you can really get your name and talents out there. But if used incorrectly- you can get fired in 140 characters or less- guaranteed.