Facebook Security Checks – Keeping Your Facebook Wall & Fan Page Secure

With Facebook's extreme popularity, privacy concerns and security are of the utmost importance.

If you've got a Facebook Wall and Fan page, here's a  Facebook security Checks and checklist for ensuring you and your private information stay secure

Once you have your Facebook account set up, the first thing you’ll want to do is make sure your account’s privacy settings match your expectations and your goals for having the account in the first place.  

You’ll want to think about who are the “right” people to be sharing your information with. They are likely to be anyone you want to find information about you or your business.

Setting up Your  Privacy Settings?

After you sign up for a new Facebook account, go to your new account page and click the item that’s entitled “Control what information you share.”  This will provide you with information about your Facebook’s privacy settings.

1. Click “Account” in the blue menu bar in the right top corner of the page.

2. Click “Privacy Settings” from the drop-down menu that appears.

3. Find the link to “Customize settings” and click it.

4. Go to the bottom of the “Things I share” section and find the entry that says “Include me in the ‘People Here Now’ after I check in”.

5. Unclick the box that says “Enable.”

Next Review each of the subcategories in the “Things I Share” section.

1. For each subcategory, decide who you want to be able to see that information, keeping in mind how sharing each type of information will affect your business.  The choices are “Everyone,” “Friends of Friends,” “Friends Only,” and “Customize.”

2. Select “Everyone” if you want to share with the largest possible audience.

3. Select “Friends of Friends” if you want to share with the extended network of people that have some connection to you.

4. Select “Friends Only” if you want the information to be accessible only to people that you actually know and interact with directly.

5. Select “Customize” if you want to be able to identify specific individuals or groups of individuals that will be able to see the specified information.  This section will also allow you to select 'only me'. For example, you may not want anyone to see your birthday

Next review each of the subcategories in the "Things I share" section. 

Again, these are just tips, your settings are your own personal preferences. 

- Photos you are “tagged” in – Friends only is advisable

– Your home address – Only you is advisable

- Your home phone number – Only you is advisable

– Your mobile phone number – Only friends is advisable, however this is a personal call.

– Click “Edit album privacy” to limit who can see the photos that you post to your account.

Facebook Groups

If you go to your 'Home' page you will see an option to the left for creating Groups.

If you set up any new Facebook Groups, decide between the three available privacy settings:  “Closed,” “Secret,” and “Open.”

Select “Open” if you want the Group, its membership list and any group content to be accessible to anyone.

– Select “Closed” (this is the default setting”) if you want the existence of the group and its list of members to be public, but content to be accessible only to members.

- Select “Secret” if you don’t even want the existence of the group, or a listing of its members, to be public.

Facebook security best practices overall:

Don’t automatically accept the default Facebook privacy settings.

Review your privacy settings whenever Facebook changes its policy or rolls out a new site-wide feature.

Happy Facebooking

Tagged as: Social Networking