How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook

When you sign up as a user of Facebook, the default settings allow all other Facebook users to find you in searches. However, only those you have confirmed as friends or who share a network with you have access to your full profile. By default, your name and thumbnail profile picture can also be found on public search engines. Facebook has selected these settings based on what it believes most users want, but you can always change them to restrict access to your information, as you see fit. Therefore, you can change the default settings to restrict access to your profile. Under the current setting, only your friends, their friends, and the people on your networks can see your profile. If you download Facebook Platform third-party applications into your profile, some of your information may be shared (see section on “Applications” below). It is important to explore these default settings, to adjust the privacy settings to those with which you are comfortable.

It’s easy to change the default settings. Once you sign in, click on “Settings” at the top of the screen toward the right, (just to the left of the Search bar), and then choose “Privacy Settings” from the drop-down menu. The Privacy menu has four categories in which you can determine the degree of privacy you would like. You can click on each heading to access the page on which you can make your changes. Privacy settings can be customized to exclude or include specific friends or lists of friends. Remember to click on “Save Changes” before exiting the page. (Note: Review your privacy settings if you change regional networks. The settings will change back to the default: all members of that network will be able to see your full profile. It is important to be aware of this, and adjust your privacy settings if this is not what you want. It is a wise practice to check your privacy settings whenever you add anything or make changes to your profile.)

Profile: This page contains two tabs, each with numerous individual controls for who can see aspects of your profile. On the Basic tab are controls for your entire profile, and individual features of your profile: Basic Information (which includes Gender, Birthday, Hometown, Political and Religious Views, and Relationship Status), Personal Information (which includes your Interests, Activities, Favorites and your About Me section), photos and videos tagged of you, status updates, friends, wall, education and work information. On the Contact Information tab, you can tailor permissions for IM Screen Name, Mobile Phone, Phone, Current Address, Website and Email Address (if in fact you provided these details for your profile).

• To limit viewing of Profile information to only your Facebook friends, select “Only Friends” in each drop-down menu. If you wish to limit viewing to certain segregated lists of friends that you can set up on your main Friends page, or just to individual friends, or to exclude certain individuals and networks, choose “Customize” in the drop-down menus and adjust the settings accordingly.

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