[Infowarrior] - The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now

Thu Jan 28 20:34:05 UTC 2010

January 20, 2010
The 3 Facebook Settings Every User Should Check Now
By SARAH PEREZ of ReadWriteWeb

http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2010/01/20/20readwriteweb-the-3-facebook-settings-every-user-should-c-29287.html
In December, Facebook made a series of bold and controversial changes  
regarding the nature of its users' privacy on the social networking  
site. The company once known for protecting privacy to the point of  
exclusivity (it began its days as a network for college kids only - no  
one else even had access), now seemingly wants to compete with more  
open social networks like the microblogging media darling Twitter.

Those of you who edited your privacy settings prior to December's  
change have nothing to worry about - that is, assuming you elected to  
keep your personalized settings when prompted by Facebook's  
"transition tool." The tool, a dialog box explaining the changes,  
appeared at the top of Facebook homepages this past month with its own  
selection of recommended settings. Unfortunately, most Facebook users  
likely opted for the recommended settings without really understanding  
what they were agreeing to. If you did so, you may now be surprised to  
find that you inadvertently gave Facebook the right to publicize your  
private information including status updates, photos, and shared links.

Want to change things back? Read on to find out how.

1. Who Can See The Things You Share (Status Updates, Photo, Videos,  
etc.)

Probably the most critical of the "privacy" changes (yes, we mean  
those quotes sarcastically) was the change made to status updates.  
Although there's now a button beneath the status update field that  
lets you select who can view any particular update, the new Facebook  
default for this setting is "Everyone." And by everyone, they mean  
everyone.

If you accepted the new recommended settings then you voluntarily gave  
Facebook the right to share the information about the items you post  
with any user or application on the site. Depending on your search  
settings, you may have also given Facebook the right to share that  
information with search engines, too.

To change this setting back to something of a more private nature, do  
the following:

	• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at  
the top right and click "Privacy Settings" from the list that appears.
	• Click "Profile Information" from the list of choices on the next  
page.
	• Scroll down to the setting "Posts by Me." This encompasses anything  
you post, including status updates, links, notes, photos, and videos.
	• Change this setting using the drop-down box on the right. We  
recommend the "Only Friends" setting to ensure that only those people  
you've specifically added as a friend on the network can see the  
things you post.
2. Who Can See Your Personal Info

Facebook has a section of your profile called "personal info," but it  
only includes your interests, activities, and favorites. Other  
arguably more personal information is not encompassed by the "personal  
info" setting on Facebook's Privacy Settings page. That other  
information includes things like your birthday, your religious and  
political views, and your relationship status.

After last month's privacy changes, Facebook set the new defaults for  
this other information to viewable by either "Everyone" (for family  
and relationships, aka relationship status) or to "Friends of  
Friends" (birthday, religious and political views). Depending on your  
own preferences, you can update each of these fields as you see fit.  
However, we would bet that many will want to set these to "Only  
Friends" as well. To do so:

	• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at  
the top right and click "Privacy Settings" from the list that appears.
	• Click "Profile Information" from the list of choices on the next  
page.
	• The third, fourth, and fifth item listed on this page are as  
follows: "birthday," "religious and political views," and "family and  
relationship." Locking down birthday to "Only Friends" is wise here,  
especially considering information such as this is often used in  
identity theft.
	• Depending on your own personal preferences, you may or may not feel  
comfortable sharing your relationship status and religious and  
political views with complete strangers. And keep in mind, any setting  
besides "Only Friends" is just that - a stranger. While "Friends of  
Friends" sounds innocuous enough, it refers to everyone your friends  
have added as friends, a large group containing hundreds if not  
thousands of people you don't know. All it takes is one less-than- 
selective friend in your network to give an unsavory person access to  
this information.
3. What Google Can See - Keep Your Data Off the Search Engines

When you visit Facebook's Search Settings page, a warning message pops  
up. Apparently, Facebook wants to clear the air about what info is  
being indexed by Google. The message reads:

There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all  
your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public  
search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and  
see a link to your Facebook profile. They will still only see a basic  
set of information.

While that may be true to a point, the second setting listed on this  
Search Settings page refers to exactly what you're allowing Google to  
index. If the box next to "Allow" is checked, you're giving search  
engines the ability to access and index any information you've marked  
as visible by "Everyone." As you can see from the settings discussed  
above, if you had not made some changes to certain fields, you would  
be sharing quite a bit with the search engines...probably more  
information than you were comfortable with. To keep your data private  
and out of the search engines, do the following:

	• From your Profile page, hover your mouse over the Settings menu at  
the top right and click "Privacy Settings" from the list that appears.
	• Click "Search" from the list of choices on the next page.
	• Click "Close" on the pop-up message that appears.
	• On this page, uncheck the box labeled "Allow" next to the second  
setting "Public Search Results." That keeps all your publicly shared  
information (items set to viewable by "Everyone") out of the search  
engines. If you want to see what the end result looks like, click the  
"see preview" link in blue underneath this setting.
Take 5 Minutes to Protect Your Privacy

While these three settings are, in our opinion, the most critical,  
they're by no means the only privacy settings worth a look. In a  
previous article (written prior to December's changes, so now out-of- 
date), we also looked at things like who can find you via Facebook's  
own search, application security, and more.

While you may think these sorts of items aren't worth your time now,  
the next time you lose out on a job because the HR manager viewed your  
questionable Facebook photos or saw something inappropriate a friend  
posted on your wall, you may have second thoughts. But why wait until  
something bad happens before you address the issue?

Considering that Facebook itself is no longer looking out for you,  
it's time to be proactive about things and look out for yourself  
instead. Taking a few minutes to run through all the available privacy  
settings and educating yourself on what they mean could mean the world  
of difference to you at some later point...That is, unless you agree  
with Facebook in thinking that the world is becoming more open and  
therefore you should too.

Note: Other resources on Facebook's latest changes worth reading  
include MakeUseOf's 8 Steps Toward Regaining your Privacy, 17 steps to  
protect your privacy from Inside Facebook, the ACLU's article  
examining the changes, and DotRights.org's comprehensive analysis of  
the new settings. If you're unhappy enough to protest Facebook's  
privacy update, you can sign ACLU's petition. The FTC is also looking  
into the matter thanks to a complaint filed by a coalition of privacy  
groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. You can add  
your voice to the list of complaints here.