Useful Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
Keely Garibaldi here, account executive at LCI. Thinking back to circa 2005, I was one of the lucky ones—I was among the generation of college students who had elite access to the unknown universe called Facebook. Speaking for my peers, I don’t think any of us appreciated or found use for the .edu email address that we received on the first day of freshman year. That is, until we discovered Facebook. Our once useless email addresses were now our golden ticket to a world apart from parents, teachers and even employers.
Fast forward to 2011 where, let’s be honest, you are in the minority if you aren’t on Facebook. Gone are the carefree days we once enjoyed when posting photos and status updates. I’ve never been a risky Facebooker, but I will admit that I have a few skeletons living in my Facebook closet. I’ve hit the “untag” button more than once.
The moment I first realized that Facebook was taking on a whole new life was when I saw a friend request sitting in my inbox from—of all people—my boss. Since then I’ve accepted Facebook’s new reality and my status feed is now filled with updates from my parents, in-laws, distant relatives, employers and co-workers.
Aside from the fact that most people cringe at the idea of having their mother know what they are up to on Friday nights, today Facebook is one of the main tools for job recruiting and communicating among fellow professionals. But the question remains: What is and isn’t safe to post on Facebook?
During a recent staff meeting, the subject of Facebook privacy was discussed and I was surprised to hear that not many people realize how easy it is to create customized Facebook privacy settings and filters. After doing my own research, I was even more stunned to see that most of my friends have little or no privacy settings on their profiles, giving not only employers, but also complete strangers access to their photos and personal information.
From limited profile access for designated friend lists to blocking strangers from viewing profiles through Google and other search engines, Facebook has countless security and filter options that every user should be utilizing.
Following are links to step-by-step instructions for some of the most useful Facebook security settings and filters.
Whether you are a recent college graduate looking for a job or an established working professional, Facebook can still be a place for both work and play. Do yourself a favor, take advantage of Facebook’s security settings and regain your freedom to post, tag and comment without thinking twice.
How to create friend lists as a way to organize your Facebook friends
How to create custom privacy settings for your various friend lists
How to create privacy settings on photo albums
How to create privacy settings for things I am tagged in (photos, posts, etc.)
How to control who can see your contact information
How to control who can see your profile
How to remove your profile from appearing in a Google or internet search
Please feel free to share any of your own embarrassing Facebook blunders.
3 thoughts on “Put a Stop to Your Facebook Blunders”
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Keely, great post. I think often people forget that the communications channel isn’t paramount. It’s how are you using that channel – what are the ensuing opportunities and repercussions? Thanks for an insightful essay. Cheers, David
Thanks for your insight, Keely! With social media moving faster than we can keep up with, it’s important to establish a few ground rules – especially when the personal and professional lines become blurred, as they so often do today! Our profiles, updates, choice of posts communicate volumes about who we are, what we value and how we conduct ourselves in any environment. It’s important to be attentive! Thanks, again!
This is a really helpful post- I think a lot of people in my generation don’t really understand how open facebook is. The links are great, I’m a huge fan of friend lists!
Thanks Keely!