Wednesday, November 11, 2009

5 Easy Steps to Stay Safe (and Private!) on Facebook

Want a safer, more secure and private environment on Facebook? Especially, when 30% of employers use Facebook to look up potential employees. Look at these five easy steps to staying safe on Facebook.

1. Make Friend Lists

Create “Friend Lists” and put your friends into categories that relate to the relationship you hold with them. For example, put your co-workers and work acquaintances in “Work,” family in “Family,” friends in “Friends,” etc. You can also set your security settings so only certain lists see what you want them to see.

2. Who Can See What on Your Profile

Set your security profile and decide you gets to see what. By creating “Friend Lists”, you can also create the security levels for each group, giving different information access to each one.

3. Who Can See Your Address and Phone Number

If you listed your address and phone number on Facebook, make sure you have secured that information in your “Privacy Settings” profile. Again, by setting up “Friend Lists,” you can allow certain groups to see that information and other groups so they can’t. For example, maybe you want your “Family List” to see your address and phone number, but not your “School Friends List.”

4. Change Who Can Find You on Facebook via Search

Do you always wonder how certain people found you on Facebook? By setting your “Search Privacy” settings, you can decide who finds you.

5. Stop Sharing Personal Info with Unknown Applications

Control information that apps, like games and quizzes, on Facebook gather about you. By fixing what they are allowed to see and gather about you, you are protecting your privacy and your friends’ privacy (Oh, the apps can gather information not only on you but your friends too). By going into your “Privacy Settings” then click on “Applications” and then “Settings,” you can decide what information the Facebook Apps gather about you. Because once you authorize an app to run, you are allowing any information to be accessed from your account!

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