Protecting Your Privacy on Facebook

The chorus of boos over Facebook’s privacy policy continues to grow, with many people even threatening to quit the site because of it. I don’t see any mass exodus coming – in many ways quitting Facebook would be akin to moving into a small cabin on a remote mountain – you would be isolated! But that doesn’t mean that Facebook users should just blindly accept the site’s privacy policies and hope all will be ok. Having your personal information shared with advertisers, your photos accessible to people that are not your friends or your status updates searchable by topic are all major privacy issues that could have significant personal and professional implications. It’s clearly essential that you understand Facebook’s privacy policy if you are a member and that you take steps to ensure you are keeping the information you don’t want shared private.

The best and most understandable piece I found on protecting your privacy on Facebook was a post by Adam Rosenberg on Mashable, “5 Essential Facebook Privacy Tips.” A quick read through this article will help you understand some easy things you can do to protect your private information on Facebook and it includes a clear “how to.”

End of day, it still comes down to being smart about what you post. If you don’t want people to know something, don’t post it! And if a friend post’s something about you that you don’t want out in the public sphere, tell them to remove it. Knowing the privacy settings on Facebook is important, but even if you set the strictest settings on your profile you still cannot guarantee complete privacy – it’s the nature of social networking sites. I encourage everyone to continue to take advantage of the amazing benefits of social networking – but remember they are an extension of you so make sure it reflects you in a positive way.

If you have any tips on privacy on Facebook or other social networking sites, please share!