Facebook Settings Privacy Part 1

Written by Marc Roberge | 28 November 2010

Many people are concerned with online privacy, and with good reason. People of all ages and from all walks are increasingly turning to the Web to partake of all the great resources, services, tools, entertainment, networking and business opportunities it offers. Unfortunately, as is often the case, there is a disparity between the technology and the average user’s grasp of how that particular technology works and what, if any, risks may be associated with its use. Nowhere else is this more of a concern than on Social Networks and Sharing sites where users tend to share a lot of private information. Facebook currently has over 600 Million users Worldwide and of all the users that enjoy the Facebook Community, few understand the risks to their privacy.The following is the first part of our comprehensive 2 part guide to help you understand and secure your Facebook privacy.

About Facebook settings privacy

A comprehensive list of all the potential risks to which you may be exposing yourself is beyond the purview of this article, but the following are a few of the more common:

• Identity theft – you may be blissfully unaware of just how much of your personal information is floating around in Cyberspace and a clever identity thief needs but a few key pieces of information about you to ruin your life.
• Scams – con artists have developed some sophisticated  schemes and the Internet allows them to reach a vast market of potential victims.
• Bullying, stalking and harassment - bullying isn’t limited to a bit of physical shoving on the school yard nor is stalking necessarily someone hanging around your house.

With over 600 Million users, Facebook has definitely resonated with people and can be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family or expand your personal or business network. Here are some things you need to know about security and privacy settings on Facebook.

Disclaimer: The settings I recommend throughout this article are a personal choice and indicate what I consider to be a fairly safe privacy level while still retaining the functional essence of being on Facebook. Some people will find these settings too lax while others will find them far too restrictive. Of course, this is only a guide to help you understand your Facebook privacy settings options, highlight certain privacy concerns you might not be aware of and show you how to navigate and access these privacy settings screens. There are certain options I discuss such as geotagging and sharing of contact information that you may not agree with. I acknowledge that geotagging is a very “neat” feature and that people use FB in different ways. Please keep in mind that this is an article about “privacy” and NOT on “how to use FB for dating, network for business and use every single little do-dad available” .

Facebook Privacy Basics

First off, your Facebook settings privacy can be accessed by clicking on the “Account” button on the top right of your screen. The first thing we want to look at is your “Privacy” settings.

Once on the “Privacy Settings” screen, we will start by having a look at how you connect with friends and associates. Click on “View Settings” in the “Connecting on Facebook” section.

These settings determine who is able to find you, communicate with you and access certain information about you on Facebook. While we need to understand that Facebook is a social networking platform and that, naturally, the objective is to be able to find and connect with friends and family, it is not necessary to share even your most basic information with everyone. Facebook recommends that you leave all these settings to “Everyone” in order to make it easier for people to connect with you but, while it may make it a tad more difficult for friends and family to find you, it isn’t necessary to share your list of friends, education or occupation, current location or interests with everyone. Of course, in the end, the decision is yours but I would recommend, at the very least, that you if you do choose to leave these options set to “Everyone” that you be sparse with your information.

Invariably, the safest option is to share none of your information with anyone other than friends – but that isn’t very functional. By the same token, while it may seem “neat” to list your place of business or address in order to connect with colleagues or meet new people near where you live, it isn’t very “neat” when someone starts stalking you, harassing you at home or at work or pictures from last weekend’s indiscretions are being perused by your coworkers or boss.

These are my current settings. Not overly stringent, which allows people to find me and send me a friend request or message asking for more details while disclosing no other information besides my name and town/city. I also limit showing my friends list to friends of my friends (which includes friends of course).

Once you’ve set these, click the “Back to Privacy” button in the upper left.