As I use Facebook more and more, I notice that a lot of people don’t have any restrictions on who can view their profile. Facebook itself doesn’t always help matters either. A few months back they changed the way privacy settings work. A lot of people were confused, and as a result, ended up leaving information exposed without realizing it.
This is dangerous.
The reason why this is so important is because the employers of today and the future will be checking out your page. Check out the story of this woman who was fired because of her status. Even more important, though, is your physical safety. You strong>do not want strange, random, or shady individuals commenting on your pictures or showing up at your house.
With that said, let’s dive into Facebook’s privacy features:
First, click on “Account“, located in the upper right hand corner. A menu will drop down. Select “Privacy Settings“.
A new page will load with four options, click “Profile Information“.
Once you’ve clicked “Profile Information“, you’ll be taken to a page with about a dozen separate privacy settings:
As you can see from the screenshot above, I’ve kept my settings ridiculously simple. All of them are set to “Only Friends“. I recommend you do the same. Allowing networks might be okay also, depending on how large your networks are.
Important: When Facebook says “Everyone”, they really do mean everyone. Anybody who goes on Facebook can access your data if you set it to “Everyone”. Bosses, exes, parents, stalkers, murderers, etc.
Now that we’ve got our profile information nice and secure, it’s time to lock down contact information. This is arguably even more important than the previous settings.
Go back to the previous page by clicking:
From there, select “Contact Information“. A new page will load:
This page controls how your accessible your sensitive information is. Things like your address, phone number, IM screen name, and email address. There’s no reason why anybody who I haven’t confirmed as a friend should be seeing any of those, so strangers are blocked.
I don’t even let all of my friends see my street address. There are some Facebook “friends” that I’m just not close to, so I don’t see a need for those people to know exactly where I live.
I do, however, let anybody request me as a friend or send a message. Changing this setting will make it harder for people to find you and add you as a friend.
There you have it! Some simple instructions on how to keep your Facebook information out of others’ hands.
One thing that’s important to keep in mind is that anything you allow your “friends” to see, can be printed out and shared with others offline. I have a friend on Facebook who recently posted a picture of his bong. Probably not the best picture to upload!
Be careful out there on the interwebs!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey
The question that your article begs, is instead of being shocked by the perverse anti-privacy settings Facebook introduces, why not just leave?
Arek
Well I’m not really shocked by the settings, I’ve just noticed that a lot people have edited their settings since the changes were rolled out. I like using Facebook to keep in touch with people I don’t see very often and it’s an easy way to talk to close friends and family.