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Credit: Jordan Brock on Flickr
You might still think of Facebook as “that social network for college students” but in the past few years it has become much more than that. Over 2/3 of Facebooks users are out of college and the fastest growing demographic of users is those 35 years or older. What does that mean for you? Well, if you are a college student, you probably have received (or will receive) a friend request from your mom, and if you are a mom, you’re probably feeling like you are missing out on your child’s life. With 13.9 billion minutes spent on Facebook in April alone, you might have reason to feel like you’re missing something.
There are plenty of guides online for beginners using Facebook. Facebook for Beginners has a good list of guides available online. If you are looking to do something specific, just type your question into Google and chances are you will find an answer. I don’t want to regurgitate basic how-to’s that you can find online. Instead, let me tell you:
- How to control privacy settings
- How to interact with your kids, nephews, nieces, etc. without feeling like the only adult at a big bar mitzvah party.
Part 1: Privacy Settings
The default privacy settings that you want to take a look at: (1) Profile, (2) Search, and (3) News Feed and Wall. Of the three, you are probably most worried about your Profile Settings. This area controls who can see you and what specific people can see about you. Let’s start there!
1. Profile Privacy
The default privacy settings for Facebook allow for everyone to see your information. You probably don’t want this. Go through and change the drop-down menu to “Only Friends”. You have to select this for every element of your profile. Facebook calls this “increased customizability”, I call it “annoying”, but whatever. Make sure to changes the settings for your contact information as well.
Now, what if you only want some of your friends to be able to see your profile?
For example, say you are a professor at a university and don’t want to “reject” friend requests from your students, but don’t want them to be able to see you sunbathing in Puerto Rico. There are two ways to do this, creating a limited profile, where you choose which friends you don’t want to see your profile, and creating an exclusive friends list, where you choose which friends you do want to see your profile. I would recommend the latter as if gives you a little added security because you have to consciously choose who gets to see your profile.
Take a look at my screenshot tutorial on How to Create an Exclusive Friends List for step-by-step instructions. Repeat steps 3-5 for any element of your profile that you want to be private.
Quick Tip: Still unsure whether your profile is actually private? Test it! Type a friend’s name next to the “See how a friend sees your profile” box and Facebook will show you how they would see your profile.
2. Search Privacy
Search visibility depends a lot on the purpose of your facebook account. Take a minute and ask yourself: why am I on facebook? Through Search Privacy, you can control who can find you in a search. I often recommend being searchable, just not viewable. That way, people can find you if they want, but you control what they see. Here are the settings I suggest:
| 1. Unless you want to be invisible, set your Search Visibility to Everyone. Now that your profile is super private, your search visibility doesn’t have to be as strict. | 2. Choose your Search Result Content. Your “Search Result Content” is what people see about you when they search for you. A profile picture is useful to distinguish you from other people that share your name. | 3. Decide whether you want to be searchable on Google. The last area of Search Privacy, “Public Search Listing” allows Facebook to send a link to your Search Result Content. I recommend this for anyone interested in establishing their personal brand or looking for a job, but otherwise it is probably not necessary. |
3. News Feed and Wall
The last section of your privacy settings, News Feed and Wall, gives you some control over what your friends see on their Feed (their Facebook homepage). I unchecked all of the fields on my account, but it is really your choice.
My Personal Public Service Announcement: As a parent, you should be telling your kids about social media privacy, not vice versa. 13% of teens said they posted naked or semi-naked photos or videos of themselves and 28% of teens posted personal information that they normally would not have revealed in public. It is your responsibility to know about social media privacy and to inform your children of the dangers of revealing personal information on the internet.
And there you go; your facebook is now guarded against rando stalkers and creepy colleagues! Congratulations! Enjoy your new worry-free social network. Check back next week to learn how to interact with your sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, (weird kids next door, students, god-children, etc.) without appearing like the technologically-challenged older relative.
August 21, 2009 | Filed Under Post, Uncategorized | 1 Comment
So now you know why you need to manage your online reputation. As an artist or as a job-seeking individual, future clients and employers are looking and you need to take control of what they see. Let’s look at a few easy things that you can do today to clean up your Facebook profile and avoid missing out on opportunities because of embarrassing content.
chug chug chug (lochnessjess on Flickr)
1. Untag any pictures you wouldn’t want your boss seeing.
Be ruthless with this. I don’t want to see any pictures of your first keg stand or the outrageously inappropriate costume you wore for Halloween.
2. Don’t let embarrassing pictures be taken of you in the first place.
If you are thinking to yourself, “I’m going to have to untag this” then maybe you shouldn’t take it in the first place. Also, there should be absolutely no pictures of underage drinking or illegal drug consumption in your profile.
3. Make an exclusive friends list for your pictures.
Most people create a “Limited Profile” list of friends, where they choose who they don’t want to see their pictures and other content. Instead of this, try creating a “Pictures Viewable” list of friends, where you choose who you do want to see your pictures. This reduces the number of random people viewing your content, because you have to consciously choose who gets to see it.
- Go to your Friends page and “Create New List” titled “Pictures Viewable”.
- Now click “All Connections” and select the friends you want to see your pictures by clicking “Add to List” and selecting “Pictures Viewable”.
- Go into your Profile Privacy Settings. Select “Custom” on the drop-down menu next to Photos Tagged of You.
- Select the bullet “Some Friends” and type in “Pictures Viewable” or whatever you named the group.
- Uncheck any networks you had selected previously.
Now, in order for people to see your pictures, they must be manually added to this exclusive group.
4. Change your privacy settings.
Facebook, by default, allows almost everyone to see your profile. This is probably, not what you want. Explore the Privacy Settings menu and customize to your liking. In my opinion, the safer the better. Here are my suggestions:
- Limit your profile visibility to “Only Friends” or something more exclusive.
- Have your Search visibility set to Everyone, but only allow people who find you in search to see a Profile Picture, link to add you as a friend, and a link to message you.
- Create a public listing for search engines. You still want people to be able to find you, just not able to stalk you.
5. Don’t forget your profile pictures.
Even once you have created an exclusive friends list for your pictures and untagged any embarrassing photos, you still have to go in and manually delete any profile pictures that you might not want visible. Click directly on your profile pictures to browse through your Profile Pictures Album. Hit Delete Photo for any pictures that don’t meet the same criteria you used to clear up your other photos.
The 9 most frequently searched terms on Google about “facebook privacy” are about breaking into private facebook profiles. The most important thing you can do to protect yourself is to remove any and all incriminating content. Manage your online presence, take out your digital trash, and enjoy a spotless, searchable reputation.
August 7, 2009 | Filed Under Post, Uncategorized | 1 Comment