The constant changes and the complexity of Facebook’s security and
privacy settings leave many users exposed to privacy and security breaches and
many remain uncertain as to how to ensure that their security and privacy
settings are tight enough.
Weak privacy and security settings on Facebook could lead to identity
theft, internet trolling and loads of other problems such as copyright theft
and impersonation.
To avoid all this it is a good idea to check every now and then that
your Facebook privacy and security settings are in good order.
This blog post highlights and demonstrates how to tighten the privacy
and security settings of your Facebook account.
Timeline and tagging settings
If you want to avoid problems such as trolling and identify theft then
begin by making small changes to your Facebook account.
- Only allow friends to post on your wall. This
prevents people from trolling on your wall, looking for trouble. Go to
privacy settings > who can see my stuff > who can see your future
posts? > Edit then change to friends.
- Only allow friends to see what tags you’ve
been posted in. Friends on Facebook can tag you in photos, statuses and
just general posts. This allows everyone to learn more than they need to
about you and your whereabouts. By not restricting who can see tagged
content you could also put your friends at risk. Go to privacy settings
> Who can see things on my timeline? > Who can see posts you’ve been
tagged in on your timeline > Edit then change to friends.
- Only allow friends to see what has been posted
on your timeline. This again will restrict the amount of information,
about you, that is available to strangers. Go to privacy settings > Who
can see things on my timeline > Who can see what others post on your
timeline? > Edit then change to friends.
About
When you are on your profile page you will see your personal information
(about) and underneath you will be able to edit this to control who sees this
information.
- Any information you want to keep to yourself,
maybe your birthday for example, click on edit in the box that it is in
and change it to “only me”.
- Ensure that you go through each and every
category e.g. work, family, basic info, contact info etc to check that the
settings are how you want them to be. It is advisable that you set all of
it to either “only me” or to “friends”. Some information is set to “public” by default so be sure to
change it.
Photos
Here you should begin by viewing your profile as if you were someone who
you are not friends with on Facebook to see which photos are public for anyone
to view.
To do this go to your profile and click on the drop down arrow next to
activity log then select view as. It will then show you how your profile
appears to people who are not your Facebook friends. From here you will be able
to see what photos are on display. You will then need to change the privacy
settings on these photos individually.
- Click on the photos that you no longer want people to be able to see. Then click on edit and change who views it to “friends” or “only me”.
- If you have a large number of photos that need
their privacy settings changing we suggest that you do this by album. For
example, click on profile pictures and work your way through, changing who
views them to “friends” or “only me” following the same way as above.
Friends
By now you have made most of your Facebook settings much safer.
If you want to take Facebook privacy a step further, consider
restricting who can see your list of friends. You might want this list to only
be available to your friends.
- From your profile page, click on “friends”.
From here you can choose who can see this list by clicking “edit” then
selecting “friends”.
There are more changes you can make to your privacy and security
settings on Facebook to make it safer. Go
to the Privacy Shortcuts (padlock symbol) on the blue Facebook ribbon. From there
choose who can send you messages and who
can send you friend requests.
Your Facebook page should now be as private and as secure as you want it
to be and you should feel much safer online.
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