Protect Your Privacy With Three Essential Facebook Settings

The New York Times has an excellent article that clearly explains the new “privacy” settings that Facebook has instituted as a default for all users.

In a nutshell:

1. Status Updates are now seen on Google, Yahoo, etc. search engines: So if you post any colorful updates that you wouldn’t want Mom or your boss to see, you can change  your Privacy Setting under “Profile Information” and “Posts by Me” to show your Updates to “Only Friends,” rather than the “Everyone” setting. Because “Everyone” means Everyone.
2. Your “Personal Info” is also now set to default to “Everyone” by the new Facebook settings for family and relationships (relationship status) and your birth date (do you really want this information seen to anyone and everyone online? Think about identity theft here). You can change this setting.  Go to “Privacy Settings,” “Profile Information” and for each field listed on this page, change the pull-down menu (to the right). You can choose “Everyone,” “Friends of Friends,” “Only Friends,” and “Custom.”  The “Custom” field allows you to choose “Only Me,” which might be the best choice for your sensitive data like birth date.
3. All of the above Personal Information, if it is checked or defaulted to “Everyone,” is also available to the search engines. Under “Settings/Privacy Settings/Search,” look to see if the “Allow” box is checked. If you do not want your Profile information to be search-able, uncheck this box.

For the complete article, and links to more information on protecting your privacy within Facebook, see the sourced article here.