How to Protect Your Privacy on Facebook.com
Facebook has simplified its privacy settings again to address a recurring criticism of the site -- that it makes privacy settings difficult to understand or locate. The addition of an "Audience Selector" button at many places on the site gives the poster of status updates and photos total control over who sees each individual piece of information posted on the site. Additionally, the privacy settings have been centralized on one screen to simplify making changes.
Instructions
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Log in to your Facebook account.
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Type an update status at the top of your home page or profile. Use the audience selector at the bottom right corner of the status box to choose who can view the status. The choices include "Public," "Friends" and "Custom" as well as specific lists generated by Facebook. Do not select the public setting, as this gives free access to anyone to your post. The "Friends" selection limits access to the post to only those people who are on your approved friends list. Using "Custom," you can specify specific people who can see your post. Selecting a list -- such as "Family" -- limits access to individuals on that particular list. Click "Post" when you are ready to post the update to Facebook.
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Use the audience selector to specify audiences for photos and videos that you add in the Update Status section in the same manner as described for status updates.
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Click the arrow in the upper right corner of the screen and select "Privacy Settings" from the drop-down menu. Select the radio button under "Friends" in the Control Your Default Privacy section to limit access to your account to only those people on your approved friends list. Select the radio button under "Custom" to limit access even further. This setting is for items that do not include the inline audience selector, such as a post you make from your cellphone using the Facebook app.
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Open each of the sections on the Privacy Settings screen by clicking "Edit Settings" next to the section title. In the How You Connect section, you control who can send you friend requests and messages, post on your wall or see your wall posts. Settings related to tags are set in the How Tags Work section.
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Click "Edit Settings" next to Apps and Websites to control information released through applications and to limit your visibility in a public search.
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Change the audience for all your older posts quickly by selecting "Manage Past Post Visibility." Use the "Manage Blocking" link to specify individuals who are permanently blocked from seeing any information about you.
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Click your name in the top right menu bar to go to your profile page. Click "Photos" in the left column under your profile picture, followed by "See All Photos," to reveal all your photo albums. Each album has its own audience selector under it, as does each photo inside. Set the audience selector on each album to control access to your photographs.
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Tips & Warnings
The entire purpose of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn is to network. It is no fun to have a profile that cannot be found by long lost friends and co-workers. So if you restrict your privacy settings too much, you will miss out on the networking experience.
