Facebook Privacy Settings
The first setting in relation to privacy you should set is the browsing mode. You should always be in secure browsing mode when on Facebook pages. To set this, go to upper right Home label and select drop down “Account Settings”. On the far left select “Security” option. The secure browsing setting is in the middle of the screen at the top. Select the Edit link on the far right and make sure the checkbox is enabled for browsing a secure (https) connection when possible and save. This prevents hackers from stealing your login and posting on your profile as if they are you.
There are 6 major privacy account settings. Each is discussed below a section at a time. To access and edit your privacy settings click in upper right the drop down under Home label called “Privacy Settings”.
1. Facebook Privacy Setting: Control Your Default Privacy
This setting sets the default audience selector you want to take on when posting from a mobile device which often do not show an audience selector in their app. Public, Friends or Custom are the options; select to ‘friends’ (meaning your Facebook contacts only).
When posting from a computer you will be able to see audience selector and select the specific list(s) you want the content to be viewable by.
2. Facebook Privacy Setting: How You Connect
These are setting for how you connect with people you know and how you can be found.
By default, everyone with a Facebook account can find your Profile/Timeline by searching with your name or contact information you've made public and send you a ‘friend’ request. We recommend keeping this set to “Everyone” so that real-life friends can easily find and connect with you. Keep in mind, people who look you up can only see your publicly viewable information.
If you do not want to be found publically through your name, then select ‘friends.’ The third setting default is set to “Everyone” which means anyone on Facebook can send you a message. We recommend keeping this setting, as this lets old friends and acquaintances reintroduce themselves when they send you a 'friend' request. However, if you have been receiving spam or unwanted messages from strangers, you may want to set this to “Friends.” Again, if you want to secure privacy a bit more, then use "Friends" here.
The intent is to connect with a variety of people you know. The fourth setting default is set to "Friends". If you set this to "Only Me" then no one will be able to view what you post on your wall except yourself.
The last setting is the most important setting. It is the setting for who sees posts on your Wall/Timeline (different than who can post). This affects the content that goes out on the Walls/Timeline or News Feed of your ‘friends’. The highest visibility is “Public” and the most private setting is “Only Me”. If set to the highest than every posting can be seen by everyone unless you change the audience selector next to the actual post when you are typing in the update. It is recommended for privacy concerns you set this to ‘Friends’ which means only your Facebook contacts. Keep in mind, we advocate you use the audience selector option for every post you make to select the custom audience you want the update to be visible to. When you make a custom selection with the audience selector when posting an update, this custom selection will overrise your privacy setting.
3. Facebook Privacy Setting: How Tags Work
First, a tag is a way to identify someone on Facebook by posting their name and a link to their Profile/Timeline. Your Friends can tag you in photos and videos of you. They can also use tags to include you in other posts, including status updates. These first two settings are key to turn to “On” which then lets you manage tagged photos and posts before they're posted to your Profile. You can also use these settings to control exactly who can see your tagged photos and posts.
When you enable Profile Review with the first setting, you will be notified whenever one of your 'friends' tags you in a post or photo. You will then have the choice to approve or reject the tag. This way only tags you approve will show up in your Profile.
The second setting covers the scenario when your 'friends' tag themselves and others in your photos and other posts. Turning this to "On" allows you to review these tags before they are added.
The third setting is a global setting, this sets your maximum visibility of posts you are tagged in. Remember that you can always make individual posts more private, so this is a backup to doing the privacy post by post. We recommend you set this to "Friends."
This next setting refers to facial recognition where Facebook tries to identify you in your 'friends' photos. This will not automatically identify you or even identify you to people you aren't 'friends' with. We commend you turn this to "Off."
The last setting option is for users who access Facebook via their mobile photos and have an app called Places. We recommend setting this to "Off" so that your 'friends' cannot share your location.
4. Facebook Privacy Settings: Apps and Websites
These controls let you:
●Block your Friends from sharing information about you when they connect with an App
●Disable the Instant Personalization feature, which shares your information with partner websites
●Prevent your profile from showing up in a public search engine's search results
Start by reviewing the apps it indicates you use and delete any you are not using or do not want to use any longer. You have the option of turning off all apps.
The next setting refers to what your ‘friends’ apps can see. Even if you don’t use any apps, the apps your ‘friends’ use can access some of your personal information, even info that is not normally visible to the public. It is recommended you uncheck everything under this setting.
Instant personalization lets sites personalize your experience when you visit them while logged in to Facebook. These sites will not share your information, however, they make guesses as to your taste and preferences based on your public profile information. If you are uncomfortable with other websites having access to the information you have made public on Facebook, you can disable this.
The last setting under this section has to do with whether you want to be found in the search engines like Bing and Google. It is entirely up to your comfort zone. The search engines index the profile information you have made public on Facebook, they do not have index your comments/updates.
5. Facebook Privacy Settings: Limit the Audiences for Past Posts
This setting is for posts you already posted and what audience you want to view them. Your option is to "Limit Old Posts" and if you do this old posts that you shared with ‘friends of friends’ or Public will be changed to just ‘friends’, a smaller circle of audience then that can view old posts. This is a global change for audience selector on old posts. You can always go back and change audience selector for posts individually (news feed post by post). We recommend you select this setting to “Limit Old Posts”.
Some important notes about this setting are first you can not undo this action. If someone was a ‘friend of a friend’ and they commented on one of your updates they will not have access to viewing that post. People who are tagged and their friends can always see those posts as well. The setting limits visibility of past posts that were available to more than ‘friends’ on your Wall/Timeline; it doesn’t make any posts that had a more private or custom setting open to ‘friends.’ Remember: people who are tagged and their friends may see those posts as well. This is why turning on tag review under Privacy #4 is key to turn on.
Lastly, you also have the option to individually change the audience of your posts. Just go to the post you want to change and choose a different audience and this will override this global privacy setting.
6. Facebook Privacy Settings: Block People and Apps
When you block someone using this privacy setting, they can no longer add you as a 'friend' or communicate with you in any way. Additionally, an option under this privacy setting allows you to prevent certain 'friends' from sending you event and app invitations. The last option under this setting indicates any apps that you have blocked from contacting you.