We ve seen the writing on the wall. Maybe not your wall, or maybe yes, your wall.
The roll out of the new Facebook privacy settings (December 2009) may have modified some of your old settings in the transfer, and it created default settings that tend to make your information more public within Facebook. It also eliminated the solid, non clickable black text for someone whose settings previously were at the most private levels. Now every account name is a clickable link.
Clickable links are as they always were. When you respond to someone s post, like something, post on someone s wall, or are tagged , people who are not your friend can click on your name and be brought to a version of your profile. How much, or how little, the general public can view of your Facebook world may, or may not, surprise you.
To double check what people who are not your Facebook friends can actually see, when you log in to your account, go to settings and then select privacy settings from the drop down list.
Click on profile information and then preview my profile . Everything that displays is what people who are not your friends can see.
If a wall tab is showing, click on it. Hopefully nothing is displayed. However you may be stunned to realize that your entire wall is open for everyone who has a Facebook account to read. If you have a photo tab showing, click on it. Whatever pictures or albums are displayed, may or may not be what you want everyone who has a Facebook account to be able to view. Applications that you have used may have results decorating the border around your wall as well as in a boxes tab, once again, open for anyone who has a Facebook account to be able to view on your profile.
To adjust to the appropriate level of what you would like everyone to be able to view, you have to meticulously go through each and every one of the privacy settings and experiment with the level of transparency or privacy you wish to maintain. Keep on previewing your profile as described in the previous paragraph until you have reached the comfort level of what you want anyone you have not authorized, to view.
Application settings are separate. For the applications, go to settings and then select application settings from the drop down list. On the right where it says show use the drop down to select authorized . While tedious, you will have to go through each one at a time, click edit settings and ensure that for those applications that do have privacy settings, you have it set to what you actually want. For those applications that you don t use, simply click the x at the right of them to delete.
One feature that is not found in any of the privacy settings is in regards to your friends list. While the mutual friends will always be visible to someone who is not your friend clicking on your account, your complete list of friends can be made private by clicking on top right of the friends box on your profile. A pencil like icon will appear giving you the options to edit the box. You can unclick the box show friends list to everyone and your friends list will disappear, viewable only to people you have accepted as friends .
Reviewing your Facebook privacy settings is a somewhat annoying task. However an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (Benjamin Franklin). It is better to try to avoid problems in the first place, rather than trying to fix them once they arise.
If you have any questions about the Facebook privacy settings, would like some help in walking through them, or would like to know about online marketing and website promotion for your business or organization, please contact me and I would be happy to discuss. Consultations are free of charge. Happy Facebooking!
Author Resource:
Diane Greenblatt (email,contactus@ouronlineworld.com)is the founder and CEO of Our Online World http://www.ouronlineworld.com , an Online Marketing & Website Promotion Firm specializing in: natural search engine optimization (organic SEO), SEO copywriting, social media marketing, and web analytics.
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