by From limiting who can see your posts to locking your profile, follow these tips to take control of your Facebook account.
With approximately 2.912 billion monthly active users worldwide, Facebook has become one of the largest and most popular social networking sites in the world. Nevertheless, the social media giant has been repeatedly criticized for mishandling user data and as a result, many people are rethinking their relationship with the platform.
While it’s true that Facebook has taken some privacy missteps, there are still ways to protect your information while using the platform. In this article, we’ll explore three basic Facebook settings that will keep your private information private.
1. Limit access to your profile
Locking your Facebook profile is a way to restrict public access to your personal information. This means that when you enable the profile lock feature, only people on your friends list will be able to see content posted to your timeline. This includes the full size version of your profile picture, cover photo, stories you’ve shared, and part of the “About” section containing your education, birthday, where you live, etc.
Additionally, all posts you previously shared with the “Public” setting will now be changed to “Friends”, and the profile review (to approve posts you’re tagged in can appear on your timeline) and tag review (to accept or reject tags added to your posts) will be enabled.
You can lock your Facebook profile using a computer or phone by following these steps:
- Open the Facebook site and log into your account
- Scroll to the upper right corner of the screen and click on your name
- Click on the three dots in the list of tabs under your name
- Select “Lock Profile” from the drop-down menu lists, and you’re done!
Remember that locking your profile won’t affect how people find you on Facebook. it will just limit what they can see.
Unfortunately, this feature is currently only available in certain countries like Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. You can always manually change the privacy settings for your posts and profile. You will only need a few extra buttons instead of just one.
2. Control who can see and share your posts
If you don’t want to lock your profile, you can limit who can see and share your posts by changing the privacy settings for each post. To do this, navigate to the drop-down menu in the top right corner of each post and select the ‘Edit audience’ tab. You can select “Audience”, “Friends”, “Only me” or a custom audience such as “Specific friends” or “Friends are waiting…” from the drop-down menu.
3. Keep your friends list private
If you want to hide your friends list on Facebook using a computer, follow the steps below:
- Log in to your Facebook account and click on the profile icon on the right side of the screen and select “Settings and privacy” then “Settings”.
- Click on “Privacy” and scroll down until you see “How people can find and contact you”.
- Go to “Who can see my friends list?” and select the option you think is appropriate.
- Click “OK” and you’re done!
If you’re using a Facebook app on an iPhone, iPad, or Android phone, follow these steps to keep your friends list private:
- In the “Facebook” application, click on the “Menu” icon. Android users will find the menu in the upper right corner, while iOS users will find it in the lower left corner.
- Click on the “Settings” icon. A profile page will open.
- Select “Profile Settings”.
- Now click on “Privacy” and scroll down the page.
- Under “How people find and contact you”, select “Who can see my friends list?” and tab the option that suits you.
- Click “OK” to complete the process.
There are plenty of other steps you can take to keep your Facebook information private, but these three settings are a good place to start. By taking the time to secure your account with these simple steps, you can protect yourself against potential data breaches or misuse of your personal information. So take a few minutes to change your settings and rest assured that your information is safe on Facebook.
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