by Glenn Magas

Created on: September 12, 2009

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Facebook can connect someone to strangers, and others who work, study and live around them whom they do not want to connect to. Therefore, your personal information, and essentially your privacy, are in jeopardy.

Here are 10 very important steps on how to protect your personal information on Facebook.

1. Create a unique password

Update/change your password on a consistent basis. This is a hard-fast rule with any online application you may be using: banking, MySpace, email, etc.

2. Deselect "Remember Me" when you sign in.

If you use a shared computer, or a public computer, you can prevent someone else from logging into your Facebook account by deselecting the "Remember Me" checkbox. This way people who share the computer cannot access your Facebook account without your password.

3. Manage your "Privacy Settings"

Upon login, manage your privacy settings immediately. Manage the following sections under "Profile"

-Basic Info
-Personal Info
-Status and Links
-Photos Tagged by You
-Videos Tagged by You
-Friends
-Wall Posts
-Educational Info
-Work Info.

Control who can see these sections of your profile by choosing one of the following:
-Everyone
-My Network and Friends
-Friends of Friends
-Only Friends
-Customize (choose who can see a particular section - you can even choose 'specific friends')

For enhanced privacy, you can even "Block" specific individuals if you wish.

4. Manage who can "Search" for you

-Search Discovery
Use this setting to control who on Facebook can find you through search. Your Friends will always be able to find you.

-Search Result Content
People who can find you in search can click through to a very limited version of your profile. Use the following checkboxes to control what people can see in addition to your name.

My profile picture
My friend list
A link to add me as a friend
A link to send me a message
Pages I am a fan of

-Public Search Listing
Use this setting to control whether your search result is available outside of Facebook.

5. Choose your Groups and Friends carefully

If you are networking to more than just friends, then it is certain that your privacy may be compromised. You need to know this going in and take the precautions necessary to avoid the risk.

Those who are within your group can have access to view your profile if you do not manage them correctly. You may or may not know people in certain groups you join and you have the added risk of networking

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