Everything You Need to Know About Facebook Privacy
Finding the balance between Facebook privacy and Facebook fun can be challenging. Itís a double-edged sword that allows us to connect with friends no matter where they live, but it also publicly shares information that just a few years ago, weíd never dream of putting online. You can search for people based on where they went to school, town they live in, clubs they belong to, who theyíre related toÖbut when is it too much?
Your birthday is the first piece of info collected when you sign up, and itís great getting birthday wishes from friends and family when it appears in their newsfeed. But while Facebook is sending you balloons and funny memes, your birthday is now public knowledge. It seems harmless, but when you call your bank or other institution, whatís the first question they ask to verify your identity? Your birthday! Some password recovery systems even ask questions like ëwhich high school did you go to?í assuming this is knowledge that only you would know. ExceptÖ youíve just publicly shared it on Facebook. Whoops!
Weíve all heard stories of people whoíve lost their jobs after less-than-wholesome pictures or statements have gone public. If you have a reputation to keep, you definitely donít want pictures from last weekendís private party showing up, especially if you really let your hair down. While you canít control what others do with photos they take of you, you can control whether or not youíre tagged in them.
Fortunately, there are settings in Facebook that allow you to control who sees what information and what happens when youíre tagged. Despite what you may have heard or seen floating around in a Facebook share hoax, you do have complete control over your Facebook privacy, and itís easy to adjust.
How to Check and Adjust Your Facebook Privacy Settings
See what your account looks like to an outsider
From your Facebook homepage, click your name on the blue bar at the top of the page. Click the three dots next to ëView Activity Logí and then select ëView asÖí
Run a quick privacy checkup
Click the question mark in the top right corner and choose ëprivacy checkupí.
Think about what you really need to share ñ do people need to know the YEAR of your birth or just your birthday? Your friends will still get the notification, and youíll still get the balloons.
Edit advanced privacy
While the checkup covers the most obvious info, you can go much deeper. Click the V-shaped dropdown to the right of the question mark. Go to settings and choose privacy.
Adjust timeline and tagging
In the privacy settings, you can explicitly control who can tag you, who can see or share the tagged content, and what shows up on your newsfeed.
Tightening your Facebook privacy only takes a few minutes, but it can save you a whole lot of trouble in the future. If you need help with this, just give us a call at 623-208-7567.
