Most "baby boomers" I speak to do not have a Facebook page because they know someone who knows someone who had a relative who had their identity stolen using the information on Facebook! Sound familiar - I make light of a very serious matter, online identity theft is a scarey and very real issue. In a 12 month period between 2009/2010 half a million Australians were were victims of identity fraud. You may have heard of a term called Phishing which is where dodgy people send you emails and links pretending to be reputable (like your bank) and you unknowingly give them information that then enables them to make fraudulent transactions using your details. Social Media is a new source of information, by its very nature we share a lot of personal information coupled with information from our profiles it makes it easy for anyone with dishonest intentions.
SO ....... this makes privacy settings on Facebook very important, below is some information on how to access the privacy settings and what they mean. I hope that this helps..
SO ....... this makes privacy settings on Facebook very important, below is some information on how to access the privacy settings and what they mean. I hope that this helps..
Under the Account tab on your Facebook page there are several options (shown on the left). Edit Friends enables you "unfriend" someone and yes they do get to see that you do not want to be their BFFs on FB!!
Account Settings is the information that you set up on the account.
Privacy Settings this is the one we are going to focus on.
Account Settings is the information that you set up on the account.
Privacy Settings this is the one we are going to focus on.
After opening Privacy Settings, the first setting to review is the Connecting on Facebook setting. This is the information that people will be able to find you with - so if you make it very private then you are only going to have friends that suggest you as a friend (if you do not know what that means let me know and I will explain). My recommendation is to make this open with the type of information you want people to search for you with. To access more details click View Settings.
With these fields the choices are
Everyone - this is everyone, including the dodgy people.
Friends - this is only those people that you have approved as a friend on Facebook
Friends of Friends - these are friends of any approved friends, you will have the same privacy settings that your friends have.
Customise - more options to select specific friends or family
Search for you on Facebook - I allow everyone to search for me on Facebook and what journey it has been. It has enabled me to connect with many friends that I lost touch with. If my settings were locked down, these friends would not have been able to find me.
Send you friend requests - Same as "search for you on Facebook", no point in letting them find you if they cant do anything about it. I have this set to Everyone, after all if the school bully wants to friend me I can always deny the request.
Send you messages - If there are many Sharon Thompsons and they want to check that it was you who went to a certain primary school, if this is not set to everyone someone trying to get in touch with you will not be able to verify that you are the right Sharon Thompson by asking you int he form of a message.
See your friend list - this means that anyone can see who you are friends with. I leave mine at everyone, as often this is a means for expanding your social network. However, if you are private then set it to Friends.
See your education and work - people can search for you by Company, school, university etc. If you close this this will reduce the ability for people to get the right Sharon Thompson.
See your current city/town and hometown - This helps you get in touch with neighbours and old friends, this is not relevant for me as I am new to Australia. I have mine set at Friends of Friends only.
See your likes, activities and other connections - If you are into meeting people with the same interests as you then I would make this open (however in my opinion it will make for easier phishing). EG. Carol is a Swans fan and I want to tempt her into giving me some more information - I will offer her tickets to a Grand Final game, providing the Swannies make it there of course! I have this set to Friends only.
Everyone - this is everyone, including the dodgy people.
Friends - this is only those people that you have approved as a friend on Facebook
Friends of Friends - these are friends of any approved friends, you will have the same privacy settings that your friends have.
Customise - more options to select specific friends or family
Search for you on Facebook - I allow everyone to search for me on Facebook and what journey it has been. It has enabled me to connect with many friends that I lost touch with. If my settings were locked down, these friends would not have been able to find me.
Send you friend requests - Same as "search for you on Facebook", no point in letting them find you if they cant do anything about it. I have this set to Everyone, after all if the school bully wants to friend me I can always deny the request.
Send you messages - If there are many Sharon Thompsons and they want to check that it was you who went to a certain primary school, if this is not set to everyone someone trying to get in touch with you will not be able to verify that you are the right Sharon Thompson by asking you int he form of a message.
See your friend list - this means that anyone can see who you are friends with. I leave mine at everyone, as often this is a means for expanding your social network. However, if you are private then set it to Friends.
See your education and work - people can search for you by Company, school, university etc. If you close this this will reduce the ability for people to get the right Sharon Thompson.
See your current city/town and hometown - This helps you get in touch with neighbours and old friends, this is not relevant for me as I am new to Australia. I have mine set at Friends of Friends only.
See your likes, activities and other connections - If you are into meeting people with the same interests as you then I would make this open (however in my opinion it will make for easier phishing). EG. Carol is a Swans fan and I want to tempt her into giving me some more information - I will offer her tickets to a Grand Final game, providing the Swannies make it there of course! I have this set to Friends only.
Sharing information on Facebook, to the left are the settings I have. I do not share my contact information as anyone wanting to contact me can message me through Facebook. Sharing your birthday with people on Facebook is one to think about - I share mine with friends, I just do not share the year. If you use your birthday or your children's birthdays as passwords or pin numbers, I would change that practice as your kids may not have the same privacy settings as you and with Facebook this stuff is not hard to work out. My suggestion is to select passwords and pins that are random.
Now with only those settings done, you can enjoy Facebook for the fun tool it is.
Now with only those settings done, you can enjoy Facebook for the fun tool it is.
Facebook have a help section on privacy if you want to read further - they also have some videos. Click here to view.
Sources -
Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Fraud
Sources -
Australian Bureau of Statistics Personal Fraud
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