Things you need to know about . . . Facebook – managing your Facebook privacy settings (book update)
The introduction to Me and My Web Shadow said that the book would probably be out of date before it was even published, and I wasn’t joking. It also said that Facebook was probably the most important place to start looking at what information about you is private and what is available for anyone to see.
In the past few weeks there has been a lot of conversation online about the rights and wrongs of Facebook’s privacy settings. The New York Times published this visual representation of the complex nature of them. It has made many people feel vulnerable and anxious about controlling the personal information that Facebook stores and shares. To try and tackle this, Facebook has rolled out some new tools for managing those settings – claiming that this is Making Control Simple.
This article talks you through these new top level privacy controls and should act as an update to the Facebook chapter in Me and My Web Shadow. Hope it’s useful.
Three new ways to control your privacy on Facebook
If you click on the Account tab on your Facebook page and then select the Privacy Settings option you will see a page that looks like this.
There are three new ways you can manage your personal information from this page.
1. The content that you upload or create on Facebook – who sees what?
You can now set a single, over-riding rule for who sees the stuff that you publish on Facebook – from pictures to email addresses.
The options are (from the most open to the most private):
- Everyone
- Friends of friends
- Friends only
- Recommended
- Custom
The first three options are self-explanatory. By selecting one of these you apply that rule to everything that you can publish or share, or that other people can see or comment on via your profile pages or news stream items.
The fourth option – the Recommended option – will allow:
- everyone to see your status updates, your pictures, your likes, your comments and notes and your family and friend details
- friends of friends to see any pictures or videos that you are tagged in, your religious and political views and your birthday
- only your friends will be able to comment on your stuff or see your contact details such as your email, phone number and IM details
The Customise option allows you to set different settings for each of those elements, including restricting that information so that only you can see it.
If you are concerned about your privacy and want to make sure that no one that you don’t know can see your stuff, then a single click on the Friends only option will lock everything down.
2. What information do people see about you when they are searching for you in the Facebook directory (or Google)?
The second area of information to take control of is what’s available to those who are searching for you – either within Facebook, or beyond.
At the top of the Privacy Setting page there is now an option to view Basic Directory Information. If you click the View Settings link you will see this page:
From here you can decide the following things:
- Who can search for you on Facebook – this over-rides all of the other settings, so if you select anything other than Everyone here you introduce strong restrictions on who can find you at all on Facebook.
- Who can send you a friend request – again, unless you select Everyone here, the people who can connect with you on Facebook are completely restricted to those who are already your friends, or those who are a friend of a friend.
- Who can send you messages – use this to stop those you don’t know you sending you messages other than friend requests.
- Who can see your list of friends – use this to control whether people you aren’t yet connected with can see your other connections.
- Who can see details of your employment, your education, or your location
- Who can see the things you Like or Groups or Pages you interact with in a directory listing
As with the other privacy settings – the options are: everyone, friends of friends, friends only or even just you.
If you select Everyone, this information can appear in Google as well as in Facebook directory searches, so consider carefully how much information you want to share with the world beyond your name and the option to connect with you on Facebook.
3. The information you share with other organisations through “apps” and tools
Facebook is now the biggest social network on the planet, and that makes it a very attractive place for organisations and marketers to try and get your attention and connect with you.
The development of “apps” has become an important part of how Facebook works, but it’s also the place where your personal data is most likely to end up in the hands of people that you don’t know and may not wish to trust.
On the bottom left corner of the Privacy Settings page there is now the option to Edit your settings for Applications and Websites.
If you want to completely lock down your privacy here, you can now Turn off all platform applications with a single click. That means that all of the quizzes, games, connections to other social networks and so on that you may have added to your profile over time will be switched off.
Remember, though, if you use this option and then in the future add a new app, you will be required to re-activate the apps platform. So at that point it will be worth just taking a moment to revisit this page to check what you are opening back up.
Alternatively, you can use the Remove unwanted or spammy applications option to delete those apps that you no longer wish to use.
Matt Zuckerberg at Facebook said in May: “I am pleased to say that with these changes the overhaul of Facebook’s privacy model is complete. If you find these changes helpful, then we plan to keep this privacy framework for a long time. That means you won’t need to worry about changes. (Believe me, we’re probably happier about this than you are.)”
But be assured that there will be further updates to the Me and My Web Shadow on this topic as and when Facebook rolls out new tools for managing your privacy.
Update to the Facebook privacy settings section of Me & My Webshadow is available on the book blog http://bit.ly/cgmMvI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
‘Managing your Facebook Privacy Settings’ http://ow.ly/214MJ by @amayfield #webshadows
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Your site rocks!
Thanks just what I was looking for
..: I am very thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information ‘.,
Important information. I would like to share your blog with father. It looks very awesome.
The post makes me to think. This is really puzzling, hmmm…
Fires in quite a few destinations along the coast, triggered by ruptured gas lines, also burned structures. A massive fire also hit the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara town in Chiba prefecture close to the funds. According to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, nuclear electrical power plants have been not impacted. The Japanese authorities has already sent military troops to impacted areas.
the course of your thoughts is not clear enough, do you really think so?
There are a handful of fascinating points with time here but I don’t determine if every one of them center to heart. There is some validity but I’ll take hold opinion until I explore it further. Excellent article , thanks and that we want much more! Added to FeedBurner too
Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite justification appeared to be on the internet the simplest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they just do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Love it. Great job of putting this work together. Adauga Anunturi Gratuite Targu mures
After examine a few of the blog posts on your web site now, and I really like your method of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will probably be checking again soon. Pls try my website as nicely and let me know what you think.
I love your wordpress template, where did you get a hold of it through?
cute post, like!
I think this is among the most important information for me. And i’m glad reading your article. But want to remark on few general things, The website style is perfect, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers
I get exactly where your coming from, together with I positively envy the write-up. It’s a given I will certainly convey to most my family and friends regarding this, extremely unique. Bye for the present time.
Thank you for your blog post. Velupe and I have been saving to get a new publication on this issue and your post has made all of us to save money. Your opinions really solved all our queries. In fact, above what we had acknowledged just before we came upon your superb blog. I no longer nurture doubts as well as a troubled mind because you totally attended to our needs in this article. Thanks
Interesting. I am going to have to look into this a bit more.
Essentially prefer your sites aspects! Without any doubt an attractive supply of internet data that is useful. Continue to bring writing that i’m likely to commence looking at with! Cheers.
I have noticed that over the course of constructing a relationship with real estate owners, you’ll be able to come to understand that, in each and every real estate contract, a commission amount is paid. All things considered, FSBO sellers will not “save” the payment. Rather, they try to win the commission simply by doing a good agent’s task. In accomplishing this, they commit their money as well as time to conduct, as best they can, the assignments of an broker. Those duties include uncovering the home through marketing, introducing the home to willing buyers, creating a sense of buyer emergency in order to make prompt an offer, organizing home inspections, controlling qualification investigations with the bank, supervising maintenance, and facilitating the closing.
A tablet computer, or simply pill, is a whole cell pc, larger than a mobile phone or private digital assistant, built-in right into a flat touch display and primarily operated via touching the screen. It often makes use of an onscreen virtual keyboard or a digital pen relatively than a physical keyboard. Computing gadgets by information input and output on a flat data show receive existed as early as 1888.[3] Throughout the twentieth century an assortment of units by these characteristics receive been ideated and created whether or not as blueprints, prototypes or business merchandise, by the Dynabook concept in 1968 being an religious precursor of tablets and laptops. During the 2000s Microsoft tried to outline the tablet PC merchandise concept[4] as a cellular laptop in favor of field work in enterprise,[5] although their devices failed to realize widespread utilization due mainly to price and value problems that made them unsuitable outdoors of their limited supposed purpose.[6] In April 2010 Apple Inc. released the iPad, a pill pc targeted on media consumption. The shift in goal, along with elevated usability and overall high quality by respect toward previous tablets, was perceived as defining a new class of shopper system[7] and shaped the commercial marketplace for tablets in the following year. The time period may additionally apply to a choice of form elements that differ in place of the display by respect to a keyboard. The usual type is named as as slate, which does not obtain an integrated keyboard but may be connected to one with a wireless link or a USB port. Convertible notebook computers receive an integrated keyboard that can be hidden through a swivel joint or slide joint, exposing only the display meant for touch operation. Hybrids receive a removable keyboard so that the contact display can be used as a stand-alone tablet. Booklets embrace two touch screens, and can be used as a pocket book by displaying a virtual keyboard in considered one of them.
This website online is known as a walk-through for the entire data you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and also you’ll positively discover it.
2 potato