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1. It’s not as safe as you think.  Many stories have crept up around the country, coining the term “Facebook Stalker.” It’s important that all of your settings are set to something you’re comfortable with—I’d strongly recommend setting all your profile privacy settings to “friends only.”

2. Your Facebook friends are not really your friends.  It might start out that way—but before long you’ll be friended by an old high school classmate you barely knew even back then, then a co-worker, then a client, then a cousin you barely talk to.  And there’s definitely a law of diminishing returns here too—just like in real life, you can really only be friends with so many people.  Too many, and it becomes impossible to really follow them.

3. It’s not always so great being connected to 100+ people.  Being part of any-sized group of people means having to deal with a lot of diversity—even when they’re all supposedly your “friends.”  Your closest friends in real life have different opinions, religions, social status, and perhaps even sexual preference—not to mention that (if you have a significant number of Facebook friends) there’s a good chance at least one of them is dealing with a recent death or major illness—all of which might temper your enthusiasm.  For example, coming home and talking unabashedly about your level of intoxication might be funny to most, but not too amusing to someone dealing with their own personal drinking issues?

4. It might make work more fun, but it can be a huge distraction.  Remember when you thought Instant Message was a great work tool? You know…before that one co-worker started IM’ing you seven times a day…the one who doesn’t get the hint when it’s time to go?  Well, the same can happen with Facebook. However, it’s a credit to Facebook’s user experience that IM’ing and messaging through the site are making “old-school” email obsolete.

5. Saying things on Facebook can get you into real trouble.  Not just by upsetting your friends or family with the occasional rant—people have lost jobs, scholarships, and relationships because they thought “nobody was listening.” A recent update to Facebook makes it harder for outsiders to see your status updates…but here’s a good rule: Don’t say anything on Facebook that you wouldn’t say in church.

6. The “Facebook Boom” may already be over. Finally, there are statistics showing declines in the growth of Facebook. It is already close to reaching a saturation point among very young demographics, and (in just its fifth year) might be “mature” already?

7. There’s a chance the pictures you put on Facebook could be on the internet forever.  Even if you delete your photos, the URL attached to them remains…often over a month or longer. The issue lies with large websites using content delivery networks to manage large-scale services like photos that copies them to numerous places to ensure they’re not lost. If one of these URL’s should leave Facebook’s walls, its chance of ever being deleted is small.