Step-by-step guide to lock down your Facebook profile by Kim Komando

It's a well-known fact that having a Facebook account isn't great for your privacy. If you aren't careful, you could post the wrong thing to the world and get in trouble at work, school, with family or even the law.

Naturally, hackers and identity thieves are also watching to pick up tidbits they can use against you. Burglars even use Facebook to pick targets to rob - make sure you know how to stay off their list.

So, it should come as no surprise when I say that having the right Facebook privacy settings is critical. It keeps the wrong people from seeing what you post.

Even if you think you already have them set correctly, Facebook changes its settings and where they're located frequently so you should double-check regularly. Don't forget to share this tip with your friends and family so they can be safe, too!

Start by logging in to your Facebook account. Then click the downward arrow in the upper-right corner and choose Settings.

General

You'll start on the General settings page. This is where you adjust your name, username, email, password, networks and language.

Your name and username are visible to anyone who searches for you, although you can minimize this in later settings. If you don't want people to find you easily, don't use the same username you use for other social media or as your email address. Make sure your password follows my rules for a secure, easy-to-remember password.

Security

Let's move to the Security tab by clicking the Security link in the left column. The Security tab is where you set up login security, trusted contacts and browser, manage your sessions and deactivate your account.

Make sure you turn on "Login Notifications." This alerts you when someone logs in to your account from an unfamiliar gadget.

"Login Approvals" means you can only log in on a new computer or gadget if you have your phone with you to receive a special code. Even if a hacker gets your information, they'd need your phone as well to get in to your account. It's a little annoying at times, but the extra security is worth it.

Review your "Trusted Browsers." You might have logged in on a computer in the past - belonging to a friend or ex, for example - that you no longer want to have easy access. Similarly, check "Where You're Logged In" to make sure you didn't leave a computer or gadget logged in that you didn't mean to, or that someone isn't logged in without your knowledge.

Privacy

The Privacy tab controls who can see what you post and who can contact and find you. If you only change the settings in one place, this should be it (but you really should change all the settings I'm mentioning here).

In the "Who can see my stuff?" menu, set "Who can see your future posts?" to Friends. Then click the "Limit Past Posts" link and then the "Limit Old Posts" button. This changes any old posts you marked as Public to Friends.

In "Who can contact me?" change "Who can send you friend requests?" to Friends of Friends. This keeps strangers from sending you friend invites you don't want. The exception is if you want old friends from school to be able to send you friend requests. You can also switch from Basic Filtering to Strict Filtering to weed out a lot of the messages you receive.

Under "Who can look me up?" you want to change the settings to "Friends," "Friends" and "No." This makes it much harder for strangers or stalkers to find you if they just have a phone number, email address or know your name. Keep in mind, this will also stop old friends from easily finding you.

Timeline and Tagging

We've already limited who can see your posts, but the Timeline and Tagging tab has a few privacy loopholes you need to close.

In "Who can add things to my timeline?" you definitely want to limit who can post on your timeline to just "Friends." If you really want to make sure you control everything people see on your timeline, you can change that to "Only Me."

I would also set "Review posts..." to "On." That way if a friend posts you in something you don't necessarily agree with or would make you look bad to your friends, you can stop it before it appears.

In "Who can see things on my timeline?" you can leave "Who can see posts you've been tagged in..." to "Friends of Friends," since they'll be able to see the post on your friend's timeline anyway. If you want to be extra cautious though, set it to "Friends." You do, however, want "Who can see what others post on your timeline?" set to "Friends."

Bonus Tip: Click the "View As..." link to see what your timeline looks like to friends and strangers. This will quickly reveal if there's something showing that shouldn't be.

In "How can I manage tags people add and tagging suggestions?" you can set the settings to "On," "Only Me," and "No One." This keeps things you're tagged in, like photos, from automatically being visible to all your friends. It also keeps you from being tagged in photos you don't control, which can give away your face and name to people you don't know.

Followers

You can allow people who aren't your friends to see your posts in their News Feed. This is handy if you're an aspiring writer or artists looking to get a wider audience. But for most people, you want to make sure "Who Can Follow Me" is set to "Friends."

Apps

The Apps is more important than controlling what Facebook apps you have linked to your account. It has a few settings that are serious privacy problems if they aren't changed.

"Apps you use" allows you to control what apps are connected to your account. Click the X next to any apps you don't use to delete them. Or you can change "Use apps, plugins, games and websites on Facebook and elsewhere?" to "Off" if you don't want any apps getting your personal information.

A huge hidden privacy danger is "Apps others use." This controls what information about YOU apps your friends install can share with the app developer. Edit this and uncheck every box.

"Instant personalization" means that Facebook can share your information with select third-party sites to give you a better experience when you visit. I've never seen that it does anything interesting, and it is a privacy risk, so set it to "Off."

Ads

Ads controls how Facebook can use your information in ads.

"Third Party Sites" controls whether or not Facebook can share use your information in ads on third-party sites in the future. Click "Edit" and set "If we allow this in the future..." to "No one."

"Ads and Friends" sets whether or not your name can appear in ads that your friends see. Again, click "Edit" and change "Pair my social actions with ads for" to "No one."
Finally, under "Website and Mobile App Custom Audiences," You can click the "Opt out" link if you don't want Facebook showing you targeted ads.

That wraps up your privacy and security settings on Facebook. That is, until Facebook decides it has to change everything all over again!

Posted in: Social Media