Stay private on Facebook

Nistha Shukla Anand

More people are hooked on to Facebook now than ever before. It has turned into a beautiful way to reconnect with old friends and stay connected with those who are far away. However, there has been a lot of debate regarding safety of users with some cases of security breaches or invasion of privacy causing a lot of stir. The social networking site is constantly updating its privacy settings to allow users greater control over their content—posts, pictures or friends’ list.

Here is the most important thing to know. Privacy settings are just not enough to control your Facebook account. You also need to take extreme precaution. Here are some things you can watch out for to keep your account safe:

1. The default setting on Facebook is ‘Everyone’. This means everyone is able to access your profile on Facebook, not just the people you know.

2. Change your privacy settings according to your preferences by changing it at Privacy Settings/Profile Information. Here, you will find three options—Friends and Networks, Friends of Friends, and Only Friends.

3. Make use of the custom option where users can access a custom option where you receive a pop-up that allows you to share with yourself or with individual users. While this gives you a lot of options to control your privacy, it does make management difficult.

4. Control your updates. Each time you post something on Facebook, you can choose the audience. Click the padlock below the text box, which enables you to specify the people you would like to see the post. You can also block individuals from seeing the post.

5. Hide it from search engines. Keep your Facebook profile away from Google search by going to Account/Privacy Settings/ Search. There is an option names Public Search Results that has to be unchecked to prevent Google, Bing and Yahoo from accessing your page.

6. By now you would have seen an upsurge of ads on your Facebook feed that are sent based on your interests. This calculation is derived from your FB activity and likes. While this gives you access to a lot of new things, it can be irksome. You can opt out by visiting privacy settings for to change your Instant Personalization Pilot Program settings.

(Anand is a Chandigarh based technology expert)