From limiting who can see your posts to locking your profile, follow these tips to take control of your Facebook account.
With about 2.912 billion monthly active users globally, Facebook has grown to become one of the world’s largest and most popular social networking sites. Nonetheless, the social media giant has come under fire repeatedly for mishandling user data, and as a result, many people are rethinking their relationship with the platform.
While it’s true that Facebook has made some missteps when it comes to privacy, there are still ways to protect your information while using the platform. In this article, we will explore three basic Facebook settings that will keep your private information private.
1. Limit access to your profile
Locking your Facebook profile is a way to restrict access to your personal information to the public. This means when you turn on the profile lock feature, only people on your friend list will be able to see the content posted on your timeline. This includes the full-size version of your profile picture, cover photo, stories shared by you and a part of the “About” section containing your educational background, birthday, location and so on.
Furthermore, any posts you’ve previously shared with the “Public” setting will be changed to “Friends” now, and the profile review (to approve what posts that you are tagged in can appear on your timeline) and tag review functions (to accept or reject tags added to your posts) will be enabled.
You can lock your Facebook profile using a desktop or phone by following these steps:
- Open the Facebook site and login into your account
- Scroll to the top-right corner of the screen and click on your name
- Click the three dots in the tab list beneath your name
- Select “Lock Profile” from the drop-down menu lists, and you’re done!
Remember that locking your profile will not impact how people find you on Facebook; it will merely limit what they can view.
Unfortunately, this feature is currently only available in selected countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. You can still manually change the privacy settings for your posts and profile—it’ll take only a few more buttons as opposed to one.
2. Control who can see and share your posts
If you don’t feel like locking your profile, you may restrict who can see and share your postings by changing the privacy settings for each post. To do so, go to the drop-down menu in the top-right corner of each post and select the “edit audience” tab. You may select “Public”, “Friends,” “Only Me” or a custom audience such as “Specific Friends” or “Friends Expect…” from the drop-down menu.
3. Keep your friends list private
If you want to hide your friend list on Facebook using a desktop follow the given below steps:
- Log in to your Facebook account and click on the profile icon on the right-hand side of the screen and select “Settings & privacy” and then “Settings”.
- Click on “Privacy” and scroll down until you see “how people can find and contact you”.
- Go to “Who can see my friends list?” and select the option that seems appropriate for you.
- Click “Ok” and you’re done!
If you are using a Facebook application on an iPhone, iPad or Android phone, follow these steps to keep your friends list private:
- In the “Facebook” app, click the “Menu” icon. Android users will find the menu in the upper right corner, while iOS users will find it in the lower left corner.
- Click on the “Setting” icon. A profile page will open.
- Select “Profile settings”.
- Now, click on “Privacy” and scroll down the page.
- Under “How people find and contact you”, select “Who can see my friends list?” and tab the option that is appropriate for you.
- Click “Ok” to finish the process.
There are a lot of other steps you can take to keep your Facebook information private, but these three settings are a good place to start. By taking the time to secure your account with these simple steps, you can protect yourself from potential data breaches or misuse of your personal information. So take a few minutes to change your settings and rest assured knowing that your information is safe on Facebook.
Also read:
- Top 5 Failed Facebook Feats
- What Caused Facebook’s Value to Drop So Suddenly?
- What Are Dark Patterns and Why Google, YouTube & Facebook Are in Trouble for Them
- What Is Facebook’s Cross-Check System and How Does It Work?
- How Facebook Has Failed to Administer Its Own Policies
Header image courtesy of Unsplash
