Since 28th June, the web has been buzzing about 11 alleged spies working for the Russian government deep undercover in the US.

In the light of these revelations – which are reminiscent of a Cold War novel – today’s social media networks have been feeding journalists and the public with ever-more glamorous detail on the life of deliciously devious ‘flamed-haired’ Mata Hari, Anna Chapman.

The phrase ‘Anna Chapman’, as the Google graph below shows, has seen a massive spike online. Chapman is an active social media user, and has not failed in providing decent material to keep us hooked and wanting more on a daily basis. But the news story and her involvement in the spy ring wouldn’t have escalated if her social media profiles were not public. Most people are a sucker for spy stories and this is one has been made real for us all to see.

She’s got it all; nice pictures of her on her Facebook page, YouTube videos, interviews, and even a professional LinkedIn profile. And as any other tech-savvy women might do in this day and age, she used to send her espionage intel from her laptop in one of New York’s Starbucks. I’m betting it had to be a MacBook.

Modern technology she clearly knows, but even as a spy, she sure wasn’t too worried about privacy.

Her case is comparable to other events we’ve seen lately, in which everyone (lovers of golf players, footballers and celebrity deaths at least) has been able to track stories as they play out online in real-time. It makes an interesting change though from the onslaught of too much detail about golfers’ and footballers’ extracurricular love lives, as we haven’t been party to the exposure of a spy – let alone a female spy – in the virtual world yet.

Thanks to Anna’s involvement in social media, we now have full scope of her life, plus her vast picture library ready to be used by bloggers, publishers, journalists and the like. Because her social media profiles were public, the media immediately pounced on them and made public her private pictures alongside their articles. Recent screen shots to the right of the coverage speak for themselves.

So what lesson can be learnt from this contemporary Mata Hari’s case?

Take good care of your online reputation and manage it well before people discover who you really are. There is always a possibility that content from your social media profiles could spread with the speed of light if something should go wrong or scandal ensues. Maintaining your privacy online should be paramount, even if you’re not a spy.

Katarzyna is SEO Manager at Digitalis Media.