Tips to Facebook Privacy 2013 (So Far)

Get Secure!
Facebook Privacy Tutorial

Becky Benishek | November 2013

Why should you care about privacy on Facebook?
“We Know What You’re Doing” is a site that gathers public Facebook
posts. That little globe icon next to your post really can mean the world is
watching!

With Graph Search, it just got easier for people to find you, what you’re
saying, and what you’re doing. That’s why you need to check your settings.

1

In this tutorial, you will be able to:
• Set your own privacy level to make your Facebook presence
as secure as you can*.
• Control who sees your status updates, photos, and posts.
• Control who sees photos your friends upload of you, posts
they make on your Wall, and anything else they tag you in.

*As secure as you can be, short of not having a Facebook account at all.

2

Already Know the Steps? Use The Shortcut
You can check and tweak your main privacy settings without having to go
beyond your own home page. Log in to Facebook. Next to your name, you
should see a little lock button:
Change who can see your posts, view your activity log, block people, and
more.

For an in-depth look at each setting, please continue to the next page.
3

I. Privacy Settings
On the top right of the page, click the arrow for a dropdown
menu. Select Privacy Settings or Settings (depending on
your account). If you only see Settings, then click Privacy
on the left.

4

Privacy: Who Can See My Stuff?

• Who can see your future posts? This is the default setting for who can see

•
•

your status updates. Yet you can change this right from the status box when you
write a post, and that change will change the default too, so you’ll need to come
back here to reset it. For all the good it does.
Review all your posts and things you're tagged in: This is your Activity
Log, where you can see--and tweak--every single update you’ve put on your
profile or posts you’re tagged in.
Limit the audience for past posts: If you have or suspect you have any old
Friends of Friends or Public viewable posts and want to lock them down all at
once, change it here to Friends Only.
5


Privacy: Who Can Contact Me?

• Who can send you friend requests? It’s a personal choice, and you
have only two: Friend of Friends, or Everyone.
• Whose messages do I want filtered into my inbox? Basic filtering
means you’ll get your connected friends, but also people Facebook thinks you
may know. Strict filtering means messages from people you don’t know will go into
your Other folder, which is located next to your Inbox when you click on Messages
(and often easily forgotten).

6

Privacy: Who Can Look Me Up?

• Who can look you up using your email or phone number: If the only

•

people who would know your email or phone number are friends, setting both of
these to “Everyone” or “Friends of Friends” is fine. If you’re trying to keep a low
profile, then set to “Friends.”
Do you want search engines to link to your timeline? If you don't want
to make it easy for people to see your Facebook profile in Google searches, make
sure that box is unchecked.

7

II. Timeline & Tagging
Click “Timeline and Tagging” on the left.

8

Timeline: Who can add things?

• Who can post on your timeline? Do you want your friends to be able to post

•

directly on your Wall? Here’s where you make the choice: Friends, or No One
(but you). This does not affect someone commenting on a post already on your
Wall.
Review Posts friends tag you in: Enable this option if you prefer to review
posts you get tagged in before they show up on your Wall for others to see.
9


Timeline: Who can see things?

• Review what other people see. Click “View as” to see how your timeline
•
•

looks to the public or a specific friend. Make sure to click through your About and
Photos sections too.
Who can see posts you've been tagged in: If someone tags you in their
post AND you've allowed it on your timeline, here’s where you set who else can
see it by default.
Who can see what others post on your timeline: If you allow your
friends to write on your wall, this setting lets you choose who else can see those
posts. If you don’t want your mom to see zombie pic-spam from that one friend
(just me?), now’s the time to lock that down.

10

Timeline: Manage tags people add & tagging suggestions

• Review tags added to your own posts before the tags appear on
Facebook: Enable Tag Review to ensure you know—and control—what people
tag you in that other people can see.

• When you're tagged in a post, who do you want to add to the
audience? If some of your friends aren’t friends with the tagger, you can
automatically let them see posts you’re tagged in.

• Who sees tag suggestions for photos that look like you? Facebook
will suggest name tags whenever someone uploads a photo that looks like you. If
you don’t want your name to come up, choose “No One.”
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Blocking: People and Apps
Click “Blocking” on the left. Here you can add friends to the Restricted list so
they only see public posts (this is good if you are concerned about defriending
them), block someone (friend or foe) outright, and make sure you never see
another Farmville app again.

12

App Settings
Click “Apps” on the left.
Start out by reviewing the apps you have, and editing what Facebook and
friends can see when you use them, in “Apps you use.”

13

App Privacy: Apps Others Use

Apps others use: What your friends do on Facebook can affect you! If you don’t
want your information shared just because a friend is using an app, click Edit,
uncheck everything, and save.

14

App Privacy: Instant Personalization

This setting lets you see what your friends are doing on certain websites.
Click Edit.
15

App Privacy: Instant Personalization
Why not see what restaurant your friends like or what music they’re
listening to? The catch is these sites will also grab any information they can
to find out about YOU.
Close out of the unhelpful pop-up and:

Uncheck
this box.

Facebook will want to
make sure you’re sure.
You are.
16

App Privacy: The Old & Outdated

Old versions of Facebook for mobile: If you’re using an app that hasn’t
updated itself recently and doesn’t let you choose who sees your posts from
the app itself, set your privacy level here.

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That’s it! Remember, you never know who’s watching…
Public information:

Good

Bad

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Bonus: How to Make it Harder to Find Your Profile
When people enter your name in a search engine to find you, if you’re not
using your real or full name, that may make it harder to find you (with Graph
Search, we can’t say for certain.)
1.
2.

Click the dropdown arrow on the top right of your page and select Account Settings or
Settings.
Under General Account Settings, click Edit next to Username. You will first have to verify your
account with your cell phone before you can change your username.

3. Once you do that, you can change your
public username. Facebook would love for
you to use your real name. It’s possible not
to use your real name, but you didn’t hear
that from me.

19

Resources
•

The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Managing Your Facebook Privacy
• Scroll down to see two-factor authentication and other helpful tips.

•

20 Tips For Increasing Your Facebook Privacy And Security
• Tip #2 tells you how to group your friends into lists, a highly recommended
practice.

•

Facebook Launches New Privacy Policies And You Still Can Be Used For Ads
• New as of 11/16/13.

20

Tips to Facebook Privacy 2013 (So Far)

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