Slideshow


Annoyed by Facebook games

Many people play games on Facebook. Some of them are fun. But if you’re not interested in a specific game and its messages are getting really annoying, you can make sure you get NO messages from them by going to their page and choosing to block the application.

Status Update privacy

You should be aware that when you type a status update, you can also set the privacy of that status posting like you were creating an album.

Photos

On the left is the default. You want to turn off Everyone. And change Networks so none of your networks will get automatic permission (unless you specifically want that, like old school pictures).

Then choose whether you want Friends of Friends, etc., or to customize, choose Some Friends.

Then start typing the names of your groups and choose the set(s) of people you will allow to see this album.


Photos

When you create a new album, you get this page. Click where it says Everyone so you can then choose to customize the settings to determine who can see this album.

Photos

Pictures can be private, embarrassing or personal.  Consider who should see them and, more importantly, who shouldn’t.  The “friends” groups we just created are most important for your pictures.

Let’s look at creating photo albums and securing them…

Grouping friends

To group your friends, click on Friends up top. Then Friends in the left column. Then Create New List (assuming this is your first one). If you are adding people, then click on the list you want to edit and then “Edit List.”

You’ll be offerred a list of your friends. Clicking on their picture will add them to the list you are creating.

The green circle denotes how I split up my groups. These groups will be used primarily to determine who gets to see what photos I put up.

Making friends

Hover your cursor atop Friends and click on Find Friends and you get this page, except you’ll likely have pictures.

These are your friends’ friends. You can decide to ask these people to be your friends by clicking “Add as friend” or X to remove them from this list.

You might also find it easier to go to one of your friends and just look at that person’s friends. If you recognize one, then go to that person’s page and do your friend request from there while you look through their pictures, etc., and add a personal message so the recipient can identify you.

Making friends

When making friends, consider putting them into groups. You might organize them around privacy (those who know about my family and those that do not) or people who know each other. People can belong to more than one group if you want.

Think about what kind of friends they are.  Family? Co-worker? Church? School? Acquaintances?

Do they know about your family?  Do you want them to know about your family?

Consider putting your friends into groups.  This makes subsequent control of your information easier.

Privacy

Go back to Settings… Privacy settings… again. This time we’re going to look at Contact Information.

Remember, I didn’t put any of this information up, so they would be blank anyway. But if you do put up some personal information, compare yours to this list. You could have reason to share your information more widely.

Also, if you get into a situation where someone starts to annoy you, you can select to not allow any specific person from accessing any of this.

Privacy

Click on your name, then click on Edit profile.

Note that my birthday is Jan 1st.  There is no reason for Facebook to know my real birthday.  Facebook needs to know the year you’re born to “establish” that you’re 18. So, that’s the only thing they need. Then, since my birthday is fake, I don’t show it.

Then notice, there is a dearth of information.

You need the school and work information if you want to enable searching for others who went to the same schools as you or work for the same companies. Otherwise, you don’t need info there either.