As Facebook has become a bigger part of not just people’s lives, but of business, it is more important than ever to ensure your privacy is protected when on the site. Facebook tries to keep users safe by offering many privacy options, but in the end, it is up to individual users to protect their own privacy.
Use Common Sense to Protect Privacy
To do so, one of the easiest things you can do is use common sense and familiarize yourself with how the site operates. It is important to know what information you are sharing. When you fill out your profile information, you have the option to add your name, information on your past, as well as current information and pictures. While it may seem harmless to give all of this information away, scammers and identity thieves could see this as a goldmine.
Beware Of What Information You Disclose
When you give out information on where you went to school, where you work or previously worked, as well as your likes and dislikes, someone could use this information to pose as someone you know. Even if you do not know them, they could claim to know you and use this against you in time. This is why keeping your wall and profile information private, as well as not accepting friend requests from strangers, is important.
Be Careful With Personal Information
Furthermore, personal information, such as your telephone number or email address should not be listed on your profile. This is information that, again, could be used in a scam or to steal your identity. Many people have this information listed publicly on their Facebook profile and they do not even realize it. Because many people do not pay attention to privacy settings when first opening an account on Facebook, they overlook the options.
Check Your Privacy Settings
When setting up your options on Facebook, you can decide which people can see what information. Facebook allows you to set your privacy levels so that everyone, friends only, or friends of friends can see specific info. You can also customize your privacy settings for different users. This can be done by logging into your Facebook account, left clicking on “account” in the top right hand corner of the page, and left clicking on “privacy settings” from the drop down menu. Once there, you can select from a list of different sets of personal data to display by clicking on “customize settings.”
Edit Your Profile Information
Also, you may want to check your profile information so that it does not list information you do not want others to have. You can also change your account settings to set up a security question in order to verify who you are in the event of questionable activity.
Watch Your Wall Posts
Finally, it would be a good idea to be mindful of what you say on your wall. For instance, if you are going out of town and your house will be empty, it may not be a good idea to announce this on your wall, as it may serve as the perfect chance for criminals to strike. Remember, the biggest thing you can do to protect your privacy on Facebook is to use the tools Facebook provides, and plain old common sense.
Keith Barrett is an experienced technology consultant and has worked in the computing industry for almost 20 years. He takes a keen interest in the role of search engine optimisation and hosted desktops in organizations.
11 Comments
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Bishwajeet
July 26, 2011 at 6:00 am
Most of the people don’t check the privacy settings at all.
grace
July 26, 2011 at 8:01 am
Using your common sense when you have a Facebook account is definitely a right advice. Everyone should know that it is a social media site and anyone can have access to your profile. Some people are victims of crimes because of the personal information which they divulge in their Facebook pages.
reeha
July 26, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I already disclose my privacy settings and i checked it from many other accounts . thanks for your useful resources about FB and sharing it with us because it will help others to keep their private things away from other peoples access. thanks again
jorge
July 27, 2011 at 1:47 pm
always check the private settings.. it would be a real waste to not make use of the security features of facebook if we neglect even checking this..
Steve Cattell
July 27, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I strongly believe one should not reveal too many details about him/her while using any social networking website. I mean, you never know how much of these details get sold to external elements and that is so very insecure!
Whelan
July 28, 2011 at 2:01 am
The best privacy setting for Facebook? Simple, just cancel your account if you dare! 🙂
Marko
July 28, 2011 at 12:15 pm
I disable writing on my wall and that people cant tag me on photo. For me is this enought. 🙂
kevin
July 28, 2011 at 4:00 pm
it’s okay to be private.. just don’t overdo it and you might become anti-social.. :p
terry
July 29, 2011 at 10:42 am
setting your privacy settings will help you out a lot.. there are really too many risks and this is one way to counter them..
CPT
July 30, 2011 at 9:55 am
Setting ???? where are setting in face book and how to handle it ???? questions of 70% people of facebook user 🙁
Anita
August 9, 2011 at 11:17 pm
HA! My thoughts exactly! May be that they hid them on purpose for some reason??