That stickiness is important to remember. If you normally post just to friends and decide to post something publicly, you must remember to change the setting back to Friend the next time you post or your posts will remain accessible to the public.
Facebook Setting
The privacy checkup is another important step. One of the biggest complaints about Facebook privacy is that users don't know what is out there that others can see and may not be aware of how to control who has access to their content. Of course, this isn't the first time Facebook has sought to simplify its privacy settings. There have been numerous changes over the years including, for example, the addition of an activity log, a couple of years ago, that helps people uncover what they've posted and what's been posted about them.
Privacy issues and privacy controls on Facebook are ever-changing, and I've read through hundreds of comments and emails from our readers who are confused about how to keep their information private and what specific Facebook privacy settings actually do.
Every action you take on Facebook has privacy and sharing implications that you need to consider before uploading that next selfie. However, it takes a lot of time to check all of your Facebook settings, and, even then, it's not always clear what the right choices are to ensure your privacy is protected.
I just went through a complete review of every Facebook privacy setting currently available (Facebook is constantly making changes, and I will continue to update this article). My recommendation for most people is to use a computer and start with Facebook's "Privacy Checkup", which covers many of the key areas. In this guide, I will walk you through how to access the Privacy Checkup, and break it down setting by setting to make it easy for you to decide what you should change. I also have direct links to "hidden" Facebook settings that aren't part of the standard Checkup but have important privacy implications.
To get to Facebook's Privacy Checkup, open the menu (your profile photo with the dropdown arrow in the top right on computers or triple bars in the mobile app), select "Settings & Privacy," and then select "Privacy Checkup" (for computers) or "Privacy Shortcuts" and then "Take a Privacy Checkup" (in the mobile app). Here, you can find an easy-to-follow walkthrough of your current settings as they pertain to:
In this section, you can check your profile information, settings for Posts and Stories, and settings for blocking people. You can limit your audience to just you, your Facebook Friends, or Custom lists that you create. For instance, you can create a family list, acquaintances list, or work list. Go to facebook.com/friends and click on Custom Lists to get started.
You can also set your birthday by going to go to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and clicking on "About" (or "See Your About Info" in the app). In the "Contact and basic info" section (or "Basic Info" section in the app), you can change the settings for your birthday.
For your hometown, this setting only affects what your Friends can see. Advertisers and others may still access this information, especially if you are using the Facebook app, which tracks your location automatically.
You can also set your birthday by going to go to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and clicking on "About" (or "See Your About Info" in the app). In the "Contact and basic info" section (or "Basic Info" section in the app), you can change the settings for your hometown and current city.
You can also set your birthday by going to go to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and clicking on "About" (or "See Your About Info" in the app). In the "Contact and basic info" section (or "Basic Info" section in the app), you can change the settings for your relationship status.
You can choose to share your work history and where you went to high school, college, and graduate school. Each of these entries has its own audience setting, from "Only me" up to including "Everyone." This setting may help old friends find you, it also may be used for targeted advertising.
You can also set your work history and where you went to school65 by going to go to your profile page (you can access it by clicking on your profile photo in the side menu bar) and clicking on "About." In the "Work and Education" section, you can change the settings for your work history and where you went to school.
If you want to limit who can see your list of Facebook Friends, you can set your audience from "Only me" up to including "Everyone." Since friend lists can be used for phishing and to create fake profiles, I highly recommend setting this to Friends only.
You can also choose who can see your friends list on your profile page by going directly to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=privacy, and you'll find the option in the "How People Find and Contact You" section.
When you post a new profile picture or change other information that you've made available to "Everyone," you can still limit who can like or comment. If you want to limit what random people can say on your profile pictures, go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=followers, and you can select "Friends," "Friends of Friends," or "Everyone."
"Future Posts" is where you set your default audience for your regular posts, including text posts, photos, and videos. These are the normal Facebook options for "Friends," "Friends of Friends," "Everyone," or "Custom." My advice is to keep it to Friends unless you are trying to promote yourself to everyone or you have a specific need for a Custom setting (e.g., to exclude a toxic friend or relative).
When you create a public post, everyone on Facebook can see it. However, you can limit who gets to comment on your public posts. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=followers, and you can select "Friends," "Friends of Friends," or "Everyone."
You can limit the people who can post on your profile page from "Only me" up to including "Everyone." Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find this option in the Viewing and Sharing section. My advice is to keep it to Friends or Friend of Friends, unless you enjoy random comments from strangers.
If you're concerned about crude language appearing on your profile page, you can add up to 1,000 keywords that will cause a post to be hidden. The post will still remain visible to the people who posted and their Facebook Friends. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find this option in the Viewing and Sharing section. Though you're probably better off just limiting who can post to your profile above to Friends (unless your friends are the problem!)
You may not want everyone to see what other people are posting on your profile page. You can change the audience from "Only me" up to including "Everyone." Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find this option in the Viewing and Sharing section.
If you are tagged in a post by someone on Facebook, some of your Facebook friends may not see the post because they aren't in the audience designated by the person who created the post. You can choose to make posts that you are tagged in visible to all of your Facebook Friends or a custom group of your Friends. Or, you can choose not to expand the audience by selecting "Only me." Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find the option in the Tagging section.
If you are tagged in a post, the post defaults to automatically showing up on your Timeline. I recommend you choose the setting to review the posts before they appear. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.
Posting an old photo from a school or work outing? Once you share it, your Facebook Friends may want to tag more people in the photo. By default, your Facebook Friends can add tags. However, you can choose to review these tags before they appear on your post. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find the option in the Reviewing section.
The setting for "Limit Past Posts" only applies to Public posts. You can choose to restrict the audience to only Friends or Friends of friends. When you limit your past posts here, it will apply to ALL of your public posts. We recommend the Friends setting over the Public one. When set to Public, all of your posts can be seen by anyone on or off Facebook. Unless you're a celebrity or running a page that is used to generate interest in a business that you run, you will likely want to keep your activity restricted to those you have Friended. Keep in mind that anyone who is tagged in your posts and their Facebook friends may still be able to view these posts.
If you want to change the audience for specific posts, you'll have to go into each post individually to change it. You can change the sharing settings of any individual Facebook update by clicking on the triple dots, then sharing button to the left of the Post button.
If you tag someone in any post, that person can share it to their Story, along with your full name and a link to your post. You can disable this feature by going to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=timeline, and you'll find this option in the Viewing and Sharing section.
If your Story is public, you can allow others to share your Story to their own Story, along with your full name and a link to your original Story. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=stories to make your choice.
If you don't want other people to see the number of reactions to your posts, you can turn off showing post reactions. Go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=reaction_preferences and toggle off "On your posts" in the "Hide number of reactions" box.
If you just want to stop a person from sending you messages or attempting to connect via a video call in Messenger, you can go to www.facebook.com/settings?tab=blocking and add their name in the "Block messages" box. 2ff7e9595c
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