Thessa, a teenage girl in Hamburg, Germany, wanted to invite her friends to her Sweet Sixteen, so she made a Facebook event letting her pals know the details of her get-together. But there was a little snag - Thessa didn't make the event private. According to New York Magazine, the internet acted like, well, the internet. "The party became one of those things: 'Hey, this girl on Facebook is throwing a 16th birthday party. Wouldn't it be funny if we got thousands of people to show up?'" About 1,500 people agreed that it would be hilarious, and they showed up on Thessa's doorstep with signs congratulating her on her birthday, drinking alcohol and celebrating with other illicit substances. As for Thessa, she decided not to partake in the revelry - she celebrated quietly somewhere else with her grandparents. The moral of the story: Keep your private life private when it comes to social networking.
Planning on hosting a party this summer? It makes sense to use Facebook to invite your friends and family and let everyone know the details of your summertime shindig - but you might want to be careful to make sure that you make the invite list private if you don't fancy 1,000 strangers showing up on your doorstep.
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