our lips are sealed ...

Just recently I went out for dinner with the gals, those friends that I've had for over five years. We've all gone through our rough patches, but it's nice to know that I can count on them ... for most things.

During the dinner, there was one friend in particular who kept diving into private matters that we all didn't want to discuss in a public setting. She demanded to know how far we've gone in our love lives and accessed whether that made us a 'real woman' or not. It was clear that many of us gathered at that table would have preferred changing the subject, but she kept on pressing.

The thing is, you can't count on her to keep her mouth shut. When I revealed to her (in a private setting, mind you) what my love life was like, the first thing she did was tell a friend who I hadn't told yet and was also planning to do so myself in a private setting.

She's also one of those people who frequently updates her Facebook status and MSN statuses with what she's doing. If she heard of Twitter, she'd be updating that thing every 10 minutes.

When it comes to private or personal things, how much should we reveal? Is it right for them to broadcast it, knowing it was said in confidence? Or should we just let it slide, knowing that things are 'better out in the open'?