Lights, camera, action! We are always on camera, so smile and be decent.

Everybody has a digital camera and everybody takes pictures all the time and those pictures can end up on the internet whether you want that or not.

I know this is a maximalistic statement, but it is better to believe that than be ignorant of the fact that we don’t have control any more over our own image, digital image that is.

And no, I’m not being paranoid here and I don’t think that government agencies or aliens are watching us.

This is just our new reality – people often carry small digital cameras with them, they have them in their blackberries and phones and they snap, snap, snap. Sometimes we don’t even know that we are in their picture until we see it tagged on their Facebook page.

And I say that we should just be mindful of that. Of course it’s OK if your friends see you having lots of fun, enjoying a drink or two (for example). But what if your prospective employer Googles you and sees that photo and decides that you were having too much for his liking.

Allison Hemming, a founder and president of The Hired Guns talent agency, author of “Work It!” and a career management expert, whom I already introduced to you a while ago chips in:

“When it comes to the internet and social media you're always on the record. You have to decide which network is personal vs. professional and stick to it -- setting appropriate privacy settings as you go. And even still, before you post things like crazy pictures or comments, think to yourself -- if a future employer sees this would it impact my hirability? Companies are digging into social networks for background checks, and to not consider this is foolish. Job offers can and will be rescinded.”

I asked her to give us an example of how a wrong choice of photo on a social network negatively affected the candidate’s chances of being hired and she had a perfect one:

“Within the last year, we had a job offer rescinded by an ad agency of a web designer that we were working with. The company did a background check and found a rather promiscuous picture of the web designer. He had reset all of his privacy settings on Facebook, and had a very professional twitter feed. As it turned out the post in question was on Friendster, a social network he hadn't used for years and that he had forgotten all about.”

And here is your takeaway from Allison:

“Don't be willy nilly about profiles. If you're going to test out new technology keep track of where you're doing it, particularly if you want to cut loose on those networks.”

And from me – be careful and mindful of other people taking pictures of you. They are taking them home and posting them on Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Picasa and such and they are tagging you. You have no idea of who they’re friends with and what their security settings are. So think twice before doing that crazy topless dance on the bar table. Cameras are on.