After last week’s post about the dangers of having your info on Facebook a number of people have asked me how difficult it is to make your information private. Let’s walk through the process. It’s actually pretty simple. I suggest you change nearly every setting to ‘Only Friends.’ Also since Facebook’s privacy policies change almost weekly, you will need to constantly re-check your settings to make sure they are set as you want them to be.
- To begin… From the newsfeed you will find the word ‘Account’ in the top right corner.
- Click the word ‘Account’ and a menu will pop up. Options on this menu include things like Edit Friends, Manage Pages, Help Center, Logout, etc… You want to click ‘Privacy Settings.’
- From there you will be taken to a new page. Click on the first heading ‘Personal Information and Posts.’ This will determine who is allowed to see your photos and who can post on your wall. As mentioned above, change these options to ‘Only Friends.’ (Your full list of options, include Everyone, Friends and Networks, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, and Customize.)
- Once you have made the necessary changes click the ‘Back to Privacy’ button in the top left corner.
- Now edit your contact information. If you plan on using your facebook account for business purposes you might want to allow everyone to see your website or basic email address. Otherwise ‘Only Friends’ is still the best bet for most of these options. Additionally stay away from putting your phone number or actual address, even if you check ‘Only Friends.’ (You never know when a friend of yours might forget to log off his/her account on a public computer allowing any random person access to your information.)
- Again, once you have made the necessary changes click the ‘Back to Privacy’ button in the top left corner.
- Now edit your friends, tags and connections.
To test your settings log out of Facebook and then Google your name plus the word ‘Facebook.’ What comes up? Are you happy with the world seeing all of that information? If not go back into your account and further tweak your privacy settings.
