Facebook Privacy

With more than 600 million users, Facebook is not only the largest social networking website, but has also become an essential part of millions of people's daily life. We put our whole lives into our Facebook account.

But how sure are we that the information is private?

Facebook's privacy settings are complex. Your name, profile picture, gender, and networks are visible to everyone, but you have some control over the rest of the information. Here are some steps you can take to secure your profile:

Read Facebook's privacy policy.
It has detailed information on how the site works.

Click on Account, Account Settings, Password--Change.
Make sure you have a strong password, one that is at least 15 characters long. (See our Password page for tips on this.) Never use the same password for Facebook that you do for email or other confidential accounts.

Click on Account, Account Settings, Account Security--Change.
First, check the box labeled "Secure Browsing (https)." The other options give you some control over which computers can log into your account. You can even ask for a text message to be sent to you if an unrecognized computer tries to log in as you.
(NOTE: when you are naming your devices, try to avoid names like "home" or "work" as these are too easy for a hacker to guess.)

Click on Account, Privacy settings; look at the "Sharing on Facebook" table.
Facebook has these items set to where they think your privacy ought to be. If you don't agree with their assessment, you need to change these. Click on "Customize settings," and pick a privacy level for each category. Secure Florida recommends setting these to Friends Only, unless this is a business or other public account. Remember that "Everyone" means everyone in the world with Internet access.

On that same page, click on "View Settings" under Connecting on Facebook.
Here you get to decide what non-friends see when they are searching. Facebook thinks these should be set to "Everyone." If you agree, great. If not, change them here.

Finally, go back to "Customize settings" and click Preview My Profile (upper right).
This is what strangers see when they view your profile. Make sure it's okay with you.

CAUTION: Facebook has a habit of "tweaking" their privacy policy without being obvious about it. Check the above settings at least once a month to make sure your privacy level is still where you want it.