by C. S. P. Barnes

Created on: August 23, 2008

Facebook. It's like the online version of Show and Tell. That activity a good deal of Americans played out in early elementary where we take an object and tell the group something about it and revealing a little bit about ourselves in the process. We also learned something from others. Let's face it, some of it was educationally sanctioned bragging. Fast forward to now and you have a useful online networking utility which has the great advantage of sharing all that is you but is also it's probably biggest drawback. There may be scenarios where you want to limit what and who can see information on your profile. Like a secret that you share only with the ones you trust, Facebook has designed utilities that you can use to either block others from seeing you or at the least limit those who can see.

The answers are obvious and varied on why you would want to go through the motions of blocking your profile. There are the individuals who are naturally wary of what information makes it out there. They want to be part of the whole social networking phenomenon but are not really comfortable knowing someone other than someone they trust will view their information. There may be parents who have children on Facebook and want to make sure they are protected from online predators.

Facebook's profile controls are granular to the aspect that it is not an all or nothing scenario when it comes to you privacy. Facebook allows you edit viewing preferences on each section of your profile. Let's start with logging into your Facebook page and on the top right you will see a series of links one of which is titled Privacy. Click on the Privacy link and it will take you to the Privacy page.

There are four options on the Privacy page: Profile; Search; Newsfeed and minifeed; and Applications. Profile option lets you limit who sees what on your profile. The Search option lets you determine who can search for your profile and how you can be contacted. The Newsfeed and Minifeed option allows to set controls on what activities you have done while on Facebook will be reported on the feeds. The Applications option lets you control what information is made available to the applications that you add on to your Facebook profile.

Profile

When you click on the Profile link, you will be taken to the Profile security page. Here, you can set who can view your profile. They break it down to four types of groups: My Networks and My Friends; Friends of Friends; Friends only; and customize. The customize option

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>