Social media sites are fun, but when you participate, you run the risk of sharing more about yourself than you should. The good news is that close to 99.9 percent of social network privacy issues are under your control.
Listed below, in alphabetical order by site name, are a few tricks I’ve discovered to keep information private on some of the more popular social networks. Hopefully, these steps will give you ideas to use on other sites not listed.
Facebook
Many articles have been dedicated to configuring Facebook Privacy settings, but for most users, four settings are key. Go first to Settings, Privacy, and then follow these options:
- Search, Search Discovery – You should control how you show up in Facebook Search. You can let “everyone” find your profile by searching; or, at the extreme, you can allow only your Facebook Friends to find you.
- Search, Search Result Content – I am a fan of the approach that allows "everyone" in Search Discovery, while adjusting the Search Result Content so all anyone sees is your "profile picture" (hopefully, a public picture) and a "link to send me a message." This way, people can find you and contact you, but you decide if you want to connect and share more data.
- Search, Public Search Listing – Do you want to share your data with search engines like Google? If not, keep your information separate and uncheck this box.
- Profile, Contact Information – Ask yourself how much information you want your friends to see. If your Facebook friends are limited to close friends, who cares? If you have connected with 300 people, maybe you should hide some contact data. By the way, Facebook has a great tool: While still in the Profile section, click on Basic. You can type in a friend's name and see exactly how that friend sees your profile.
One thing: The above tips are great, but if you are a heavy Facebook user, you really should do some more research.
FriendFeed
To keep FriendFeed data private, the key is to only let people you approve see your feed. This is easy to set up. Go to Settings and check on Private Feed. Notably, I surprised myself while researching this blog: When I tried to create a FriendFeed account, I discovered that I already had one -- an account I had forgotten about. This experience crystallizes the importance of setting privacy rules up front; as life gets busy, you may well forget about them and what they say about you.
LinkedIn
Many people view LinkedIn as the business version of Facebook -- a far more professional approach to sharing information. While I would agree with that, don't be fooled into thinking there are no privacy issues with LinkedIn! Two changes are musts, even though there are a number of settings you should explore in the Privacy Settings section of the site’s Account & Settings option:
- Profile Views – If I go to view the profile of, say, a former co-worker or an old friend from college, the next time they log in they could see: "David Silversmith visited your profile." If you don't want people to know that you have been visiting, you need to adjust your Profile Views to: "Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile."
- Profile and Status Updates – Are you "fine-tuning" your LinkedIn profile for a potential job search? Well, if you’re not careful, all of your changes will be broadcast to your connections -- many of whom probably work at your current employer. You should adjust your profile to say: "No, do not notify anyone and do not include me in company or industry updates."
Twitter
One setting is critical: Under Settings, Account, you have a choice to "protect my updates." If you don't protect your updates, then anybody can choose to follow you. If you protect your updates, then “follow requests” are sent to you for approval and you decide who can follow you. This also keeps your updates out of search results.
To sum up: The first time you log in to a new social media site, head to the Settings section. Review the options, and don't add any personal data until you understand them.
I estimate that less than 1 percent of social site users take that step. I urge you to join this elite group!
http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=715&doc_id=176452&
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