Goodwill Community Foundation creating
opportunities for a better life
you may have heard about the complex and
sometimes controversial issue of privacy
on Facebook but have you given any
thought to the level of privacy you're
comfortable with it's different for
everyone take Judy and Brian Judy uses
Facebook primarily to keep up with
friends and family she prefers more
privacy because that way she can talk
about her personal life but still keep
her private life private Brian on the
other hand uses Facebook a lot for
networking making new connections and
socializing in a very open way he
prefers less privacy because for him
putting himself out there is what it's
all about there were three different
places where you can control your
privacy on Facebook under privacy
settings for your account on individual
posts and on your profile each item has
its own set of options so you can pick
and choose what you want to share these
options may seem confusing at first but
once you know what they mean you should
have no problem customizing your account
let's take a look at the six most common
options you'll find while adjusting your
privacy the first is friends which is a
popular choice for a lot of content on
Facebook
basically this option will protect the
item in question so only the people
you've added as friends can see or
interact with it friends is the perfect
choice for things that you want to share
just not with people you don't know
another similar option is lists lists
let you organize your friends into
groups so when you share something with
one of them for example with your close
friends but not your co-workers only the
people in that list will be able to see
it this gives you the freedom to share
what you want but not necessarily with
everyone you know
the next option friends and Friends is
slightly less secure it extends access
not only to your friends but also to
their friends this can include people
you don't know even people you've
deliberately chosen not to connect with
therefore you should only use this
option if you feel comfortable sharing
with anyone your friends may have
connected with public is the least
secure option it allows everyone on
Facebook and on the web to view your
profile activity and other information
it also opens you up to third-party
applications and advertisers
only me on the other hand is the
complete opposite it prevents everyone
but you from seeing the information in
question for example you may want to be
the only person who can see photos that
you've been tagged in that way you don't
have to worry about anything
embarrassing or unflattering showing up
on your profile the last option is
custom this setting lets you decide on
an individual basis who has access to
your content it's especially useful for
things like your contact information
photos and other details that you want
to share with some of your friends but
not all of them you won't necessarily
find these options attached to every
item on Facebook sometimes you'll only
have one or two to choose from sometimes
you'll find what you're looking for
under custom instead you'll also find
the options are slightly different
across the web for instance have you
ever been to a site that lets you like
or share things directly to your
Timeline how about a site that lets you
sign in with Facebook instead of
creating a new account there's actually
a word for this feature it's called the
Facebook platform and it can impact your
privacy in a couple different ways some
sites use the platform to connect your
account to their services others use it
to customize your experience based on
your personal info to protect yourself
always read the description that's
provided including the site's privacy
policy and don't agree to anything
you're not comfortable with you can view
or edit your connections to other sites
by signing into your account in short
the key to understanding privacy on
Facebook is simple you control what you
share based on the choices you make now
you know what to look for and what all
the different settings mean