How to Stop Facebook from Sharing Info on Google

As of today, Facebook now allows "indexing" on their site. This means that Facebook can now share info about you to Google, which can then appear in their search engines.  Needless to say, this is a BIG privacy issue!

The good news is that you can dis-allow indexing, and is definitely something you'll want to do (and make sure your kids to the same).

Here's how to stop Facebook from indexing your information:

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Go to your SETTINGS and select PRIVACY SETTINGS
3. Then click the SEARCH link
4. Uncheck the box that reads, "Allow Indexing".

That should do it.  However, while you're looking around your settings, you might also like to check some of the other settings as well to make sure nothing is being shared that you don't want.

For more information about Facebook Privacy, click here.

10 Privacy Settings for Facebook You Should Know

I know I've posted information about privacy settings on Facebook before, but they can't be emphasized enough.  While it's best to approach facebook from the standpoint that EVERYTHING is public, you do some control over what information is shared.

I stumbled across an article today titled, "10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know".  There are some excellent tips in this article and it's well worth your time to read.

For more information about Facebook Privacy, check out the links below. Of course, keep in mind that if you're a business owner on Facebook, you may not want to implement some of these privacy changes since they would reduce your visibility.

Facebook Places & Your Privacy

Changing Your Privacy Settings in Facebook

How to Stop Facebook From Sharing Info on Google

Facebook Places & Your Privacy

The last couple of days there has been a post making the rounds on Facebook that reads ....

NOTICE!!! Facebook Launched Facebook Places yesterday. Anyone can find out where you are when you are logged in. It gives the actual address and map location of where you are as you use Facebook. Make sure your kids know. TO UNDO:go to"Account", "Account Settings."Notifications" then scroll ...down ......to "Places..." and uncheck the 2 boxes. Make sure to SAVE changes and re-post this for others info.

There seems to be some confusion about what Facebook Places are, and the steps given to change your "Places" settings in the message above are not accurate. So I thought I'd try and help explain it a bit better here.

To better explain Facebook Places, think about some of your friend's posts you may have seen on Facebook for a minute. I have a friend who uses Facebook Places and another similar application called, Loopt.  Whenever this friend (we'll call him, John) goes anywhere, he uses his cell phone to post a message on Facebook telling his friends where he is.  The post does show a map and address of the business name he is at.

This is what Facebook Places does.  The idea is that if you're out at the mall, or movies, etc., you can share that information with your friends on Facebook ... so that if any of them just happen to be at the same place you are, then you guys can meet up.  The original concept behind Facebook Places is harmless. 

Below is a typical post that shows up on Facebook. John uses Facebook Places to share that he's at Starbucks getting coffee.

However, like anything else on Facebook, there are potential drawbacks and dangers folks should be aware of. Keep in mind that NOTHING on facebook is really private.  And depending on your privacy settings, you may be sharing information about your whereabouts with more people than you think. 

Some of my friends, for example, accept strangers as friends for game purposes.  The more friends you have on Facebook playing certain games, the better the game experience.  If your privacy settings are set for "friends only", keep in mind that even these strangers are seeing your whereabouts on Facebook Places.  And if you think back to grade-school and "stranger, danger" for a moment ... you might want to keep in mind that strangers are unknown variables.  In other words, if they're strangers, we don't really know if any of them are predators or sexual molesters, etc.

While adults may be willing to take the risk having their whereabouts tracked, I'd urge caution for your kids.  It's not a good idea to let your kids broadcast their whereabouts on Facebook just in case that information is inadvertently falling into the wrong hands.

Now that you understand what Facebook Places are, and what dangers to watch for ... let's change the settings.


Notification Settings  for Facebook Places

First, Facebook Places is an application, which means you don't have to use it.  If you don't use it, Facebook won't post where you are (with the exception of tagging).

Secondly, the instructions in the warning message above are wrong.  "Notifications" are emails sent by Facebook to you.  Facebook lets you specify which emails you would like to receive from them.  By default, you get an email for everything on Facebook (you may have noticed that your inbox is constantly flooded by emails from Facebook).  Changing your "notification" settings will stop Facebook from emailing you for every little thing.

The Facebook Places Notifications, have two settings that you can change. The first setting mentions "tagging".  If one of your friends is at Starbucks (for example), and you happen to be with them ... your friend might use Facebook Places to tell their friends that YOU are there with them (this is tagging).  Although you and your friend might not have arrived together at Startbucks, but ran into each other there by accident ...and your friend tells facebook you're there using Facebook Places ... you've been tagged.

So it's not bad enough that your whereabouts can be inadvertently advertised to the world,  but as you can see, your friends can also advertise your whereabouts without your knowledge through a process called, tagging).

The second notification just means that Facebook will email or text you if somebody comments on a Facebook Places post that you've been tagged in.

So in other words, if you see a checkmark under the email icon or phone icon, Facebook will email or text you anytime somebody tags you in a Facebook Places post or comments on that post. Unchecking these boxes means that you will not receive these emails or text messages .... which in turn means that you might never know if you've been tagged on Facebook Places (not good).  It's better to leave these boxes checked so that at least you will know sooner than later if somebody is tagging you in Facebook Places.

Privacy Settings for Facebook Places

There are a couple of other settings you can change to better protect your privacy with regards to Facebook Places. If you click ACCOUNT and then PRIVACY SETTINGS, you'll see Facebook Places in the list of settings.

If you click the "Customize Links" (bottom circle on image above), you'll be able to change the privacy settings for Facebook Places. This setting allows you to basically decide who will know when you check in using Facebook Places (or your friends do it for you).  I've changed my setting so that only I will know.

This basically means that nobody but me will ever see that I've checked somewhere using Facebook Places. Notice, I've also unchecked the box below the "Places I check into" setting.  While I'm not a 100% sure, I also think this means that even if I'm tagged in Facebook Places, nobody else will see that either.

For more information about Facebook Places, click here.

For more information about Facebook Privacy, click here. 

How to Stop Facebook From Emailing You!

Tired emails from Facebook?  As great as facebook can be, having your inbox constantly flooded with facebook emails gets annoying pretty fast.   The good news is that you can configure facebook not to send those emails.  Here's how ....

1. Log into your Facebook Account
2. Select ACCOUNT and then ACCOUNT SETTINGS on the blue bar at the top of page.
3. Click the NOTIFICATIONS tab
4. Look at every setting and UNCHECK the box under the Email column (for one or more items listed). 
5. Click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom of the page. 

Facebook lets you specify which emails you'd like to receive (if any).  By default, every item is checked, which means you'll get loads of emails.  Facebook will not send emails for items NOT CHECKED.  

Changing Your Privacy Settings in Facebook

One of the biggest annoyances of Facebook is that they are constantly making changes - many of which affect your privacy.  Sadly, too often, you have learn about these changes from somebody else (not facebook).

Today, one of my friends mentioned that Facebook is now making our phone numbers public (by default) unless we go in and change them.   So I did some checking.

Facebook generally has 3 different options for privacy.  You can either share all of your information (including profile, photos, videos, etc.) with .....

• Everyone
• Friends only
• Friends of Friends

Unless you're a celebrity or business person, you typically don't want everybody to see your information.  So selecting the "Friends only" option is good for most Facebook information.  When sharing photos, I usually select "friends of friends" so that if my friend wants to share my photos with their friends, they'll be able to see them. 

However, there is definitely some information you want to keep just to yourself.  And you will have to manually set these options.

Changing your privacy settings in Facebook is tricky (especially since the steps keep changing).  But as of today, here's the steps.

1. Log into Facebook on select ACCOUNT and then PRIVACY SETTINGS (blue bar at the top of the page)
2. By default, you'll see a mixture of privacy settings.  For now, click FRIENDS ONLY on the left menu of options.

3. Now select click the link that reads, Custom Settings
4. If you've selected "Friends Only" previously, then you may only have to change the settings under "Contact Information" - but be sure to check every setting yourself to make sure you are only sharing information you want to with the people you want to.
5. To change your settings, click the gray button next to each setting and select the option you want.  If you want to set it so only you (and not your friends) see something, click CUSTOM and then use the pull-down arrow to select JUST YOU. Then click the SAVE SETTINGS button.
6. Repeat the process for each privacy setting.
   

Because Facebook has a habit of making frequent changes to their system, it would be a good idea to re-check these settings periodically to make sure they're configured correctly.

For more information about Facebook Privacy, click here.

Facebook's New Privacy for Users

From long time, Facebook has had a pretty consistent modus operandi that It breaks stuff, catches flack for it, and then-eventually-backpedals or otherwise responds to the criticism. The tradition continues with CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg's new blog post. After a few weeks of intense unhappiness over the company's recent new features and related changes to privacy policies, it's redoing its privacy settings in a major way.

Zuckerberg says that the new features will take a few weeks to reach every Facebook user. I don't see them yet. But here's a recap of what he says is new:
• Rather than having to wade through gazillions of granular settings, it'll be easy to tell Facebook you want anything you post to be visible to friends only, friends of friends, or everybody. These rules will apply to future Facebook functionality that doesn't exist yet.
• You'll be able to make your Friends and Pages lists completely private.
• It'll be easier to block apps on Facebook from getting at your information.
• It'll be easier to block external sites such as Pandora which use Facebook's new "Instant Personalization" from getting at your information. (Currently there's no single place to go to do this, nor any way to block all sites with one click).
• If users find these changes satisfactory, Facebook intends to avoid major changes to privacy policies "for a long time”.

Use Caution When Posting on Facebook

You probably noticed that a few of your Facebook "friends" will post just about anything that pops into their head.  Often times the posts are full of profanity and other vulgarities.  This seems to be especially true with younger people.

Very few people consider the potential consequences when posting on Facebook.  The first thing to keep in mind is that everything you post gets stored in a database FOREVER!   You can delete old posts and photos from your facebook account .... but they will still remain in Facebook's database.  Here's a great article on just how long things remain in Facebook's database.

Another thing to keep in mind is that others are searching Facebook for more information about you. It's becoming commonplace for future employers, colleges and others to search Facebook accounts to determine if you're the right sort of person they'd like to admit into their organization.  And of course, lawyers and law enforcement will also search Facebook in the event a crime is committed.

If you have kids, nephews, nieces, etc. .... it's a good idea to teach them to keep things in mind when posting. For more information about the potential dangers of Facebook posting, click here.

For more information about your Facebook privacy, click here.

To learn how to stop Facebook from sharing your information on Google, click here.

Facebook Plans to Invade Your Privacy Again

Many Facebook users are already concerned about their privacy issues, but once again, Facebook doesn't seem to care.

As if they weren't already making enough money, they now plan to use you in their ads.  So every time you "like" a certain a product or "check in" to one of your favorite local coffee shops, etc., you risk having your profile connected with that merchant and published in one of FB's ads.  In Facebook's own words ....

"Facebook said the sponsored stories are all labeled as such. Users won't get any special notification that their posts have been sponsored and used as ads, and there's no option for users to opt out of the service".

The fact that FB users won't even be able to "opt-out" of this feature is really upsetting.  It will be interesting to see if Facebook does and about face on this one as users voice their complaints.

For more information about Facebook's plans to use you in their Ads, click here.