Last post, I started to walk you through how to adjust your Facebook privacy settings.  Facebook has a lot of places to adjust, however, so I didn’t get to everything.  Let’s continue adjusting those Facebook privacy settings!  To begin, login to Facebook.   Click on that widget/gear in the upper right-hand corner and choose “Privacy Settings.”

This is the meat and potatoes of Facebook privacy settings.    The first option is “Who can see your Future Posts?”  I usually choose Friends, except Acquaintances as my Default, but for further privacy, you can choose Custom.  Using the Facebook Lists you’ve created,  you can designate who can (and can’t) see what you’re posting from the time you edit this setting, forward.  You can use the Activity Log just below the Future Posts option to see what you’ve already liked, commented on or posted, and make adjustments from there.  You should also “Limit Past Posts.”   Facebook will have a scary pop-up come up when you try to do that.

This is the default setting for you (it resets all old Facebook post settings to Friends-only view, except for tagged posts) unless you’re willing to go back and sort through all your old Facebook posts individually.

Under Facebook Privacy Settings, you can also adjust who can send you friend requests and whose messages you want to come into your Facebook Message inbox.  Basic Filtering should be enough for you, unless you’re getting a lot of unwanted Facebook messages.  In that case, Strict Filtering would be a better option.  Finally, under Privacy Settings, you can adjust who can look you up on Facebook using the email address or phone number you provide.  Remember, if all of your other privacy settings are locked down, it’s not a lot of information for whomever is looking you up to see.

The final Privacy Setting to adjust is the Search Engine linking to your Facebook Timeline.

Uncheck the box for maximum privacy.  Otherwise, search results for your name (on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) will pop up a direct link to your Facebook timeline.  Information that you’ve posted on Facebook Pages, as well as Public posts may show up anyway, but this prevents the majority of people from directly finding your Facebook profile.

We’re almost there!  Next up is selecting “Timeline and Tagging Settings” from the selections on the left-hand side.

Above are the settings I use for additional Facebook privacy.  I only allow Friends to post things on my wall, and I review anything I’m tagged in before it goes up on my Timeline.  This won’t stop posts from going up on your friends’ Timelines, but at least will notify you that the post is there in case you need to have a “gentle conversation” with them.  You can also adjust who sees things posted on your Timeline, including posts you’ve been tagged in.  Again, these are just your settings – your friends may have different settings, allowing their friends to see more, so know what you’re being tagged in!

One of the coolest features in Facebook Timeline and Tagging is the “Review As” ability.

You can make sure certain people or lists or the Public can (or can’t) see things on your Facebook Timeline using this feature.  This is helpful when you want to tweak your Facebook privacy settings or make sure that everything is locked down the way you want.

The final section in Facebook Timeline and Tagging are options for controlling tags.  Tags can be added to posts by other people, so I like to review those before they pop up on my Timeline.  You can also choose who the audience for a post you’re tagged in is.  The default is Friends (so even if they’re not tagged, your Friends will automatically see any Facebook post you’re tagged in).  However, you can customize those settings to whomever you wish.   The last option in Timeline and Tagging concerns Facebook’s facial recognition software.

Facebook has software that will search through its database whenever someone posts a picture that looks even remotely like you.  (When it was first launched, it was fascinating how many foreign men Facebook thought I resembled!)  I’m not a big fan of my name popping up for people I don’t know, so I have disabled this feature and selected “No One.”

There you have it!  You’ve been walked through and learned how to adjust the primary features of Facebook Privacy and Security settings.  If you have any further questions about Facebook, or Facebook Privacy settings, please email me at: Training@C21Redwood.com.