One Step Ahead: Almanac Security Tips - 2013

Table of Contents (view all)

Spring Cleaning Your Office? Know What to Do with E-Waste
Keep Your Identity Safe When Filing Taxes This Year
Why use Penn+Box when Storing Data in the Cloud
Mobile Device Security - 3 Recommendations for Cloud Users (Hint: That's You!)
Be Aware of QR Code Risks
It’s Data Privacy Month: Update Your Facebook Privacy Settings and More
How Are You Celebrating Data Privacy Month?
Stay Secure while Working on Public Wi-Fi Networks
Protecting Your Finances During This Year's Holiday Shopping Season
Cloud and You
Security and Privacy Online Training & Tools
October: Free Secure Disposal of Paper and Electronics at Employee Resource Fair; NCSAM
Student Privacy - What Do I Need To Know? A FERPA Reminder
Top 10 Tips for Securing Your Smartphone or Tablet
Working Off Campus? Some Tips to Consider

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011 - Almanac Vol. 57, No. 19

Facebook Privacy Tips: Customize Button, Friends Lists

Facebook, like most technological innovations, provides great opportunity and carries great risk—depending on how you use it. Privacy concerns are generally pretty well-known, but the privacy tools that Facebook offers are often overlooked or simply seem too daunting.

Here are some practical tips that will get you further in protecting your privacy while using Facebook:

• Make Use of the Customize Button Wherever You See It. Bypass the default options that Facebook provides and hit the "Customize" button anywhere you see it. This will allow you to decide at a specific level how you want your information shared.
• To do so, click on "Account" (top right); then "Privacy Settings;" then "Custom;" then "Customize Settings." Then follow the prompts and decide point-by-point what your privacy preferences are.
• One privacy setting that can be quite important is "Photos and Videos I am Tagged In." You have the option—in Customize Settings—to allow those to be shared only with you.
• Make and Use Friends Lists. They can be given access—or excluded from access—to different data sets.
• Make use of Friends Lists in your Friends section. You may create lists of, for example, "Professional Contacts," "Neighborhood Friends," "Hometown Buddies," or a "Keep Out" list. Facebook allows you to "post," "share photos" and in fact set almost every individual privacy setting to share with—or exclude sharing with—a particular Friends List.
• To do so, look for the lock icon and/or "Customize" buttons. Then choose "Specific People"; then fill in your Friends List name under "Make this Visible To" or "Hide This From" depending on your preference.

In short, make Friends Lists, and then dig a little on the Account > Privacy Settings > Custom > Customize page. You can have more privacy than you think using Facebook, but you do need to act to do so.