Facebook’s New Privacy Settings: A Guide

By Angela

My truly disgusting love/hate relationship with Facebook is turning more into hate than love after the social networking site changed its privacy settings yet again when thousands of users complained about how their privacy was non-existent. Not surprisingly, these settings require users to make changes manually, meaning those who don’t could have their bizness all over the web without them knowing.

If you don’t want scandalous pictures of yourself surfing on the net via Facebook or just want to maintain your mysterious whiff of privacy for that sexy man friend to friend request you, I’ve broken down the basics of the new privacy settings (that have yet to be implemented) for the better of social networking humanity. Take a gander and pay it forward to all your FB friends by passing this handy guide along, yo. Your friends will thank you.

The What:

1) Less buttons! Easier control over privacy!
Instead of the million detailed privacy descriptions that were impossible to navigate and far too time consuming to actually implement, Facebook narrowed it all down to just five main important categories. That means only 5 clicks to keep those kegstand photos out of your future boss’s hands.

2) Interests/Friends no longer publicly displayed
Remember when the pseudo-new privacy settings were enacted, everyone (including creepy stalkers) could see your “favorite quotes,” “about me,” “likes and interests,” and even who you were friends with? That bio information is still there, but now you can control whether you share that delicate information with just your “Friends,” “Friends of Friends,” or “Everyone.”

3) No more sharing random information via Third-Party applications
This one is probably one of my favorite changes. I was freaked out when I signed into my Pandora account and it suggested me to listen to several artists that I never once mentioned on the site. Turns out, it just got all my information from my Facebook. Geez, if Pandora can get to know me that up close and personal without my knowledge, who else is out there creepin’ on me? No one anymore. Now you can choose whether you want to share that information with sites like Pandora and CNN.com. The right to choose, gotta love it.

The How:
Now that you know what the changes are (because Mr. Zuckerberg likes to be so sneaky with this sort of stuff), here’s exactly how you’re going to protect your privacy.

1. Once you’re logged into Facebook, click on the Account tab and choose Privacy Settings.

2. Before you change anything, familiarize yourself with the new changes. There are three different categories for sharing: Everyone, Friends of Friends and Friends Only.

3. Facebook has created the settings so that mostly everything will be shared under “Everyone” automatically. (This brings them more cash money from their advertisors.) It is up to you to go in an MANUALLY make the change. In order to prevent over sharing via web, make sure most of your settings are changed to “Friends only.” Obviously, it’s up to you what you share and who you share it with, but I highly recommend making pics, vids, and personal contact info as private as possible. With Facebook, you really never know how far that information can spread and once it’s out there, you’ll never get it back.

Remember: the new settings haven’t gone into affect yet, so look out for the change. In the meantime, share this guide on Facebook so everyone knows what’s up.