Facebook - Privacy Protection

Step that you can take to protect your personal profile on Facebook as well as your reputation on the internet. It is especially important to protect the privacy of your Facebook if you use it for ministry and are friends with young teens.

1. Set the privacy setting to ONLY ME for photos and videos you are tagged in.
   Purpose: This will prevent you from being tagging in an inappropriate photo that would then appear in the news feed of all your “friends”.
   Example: A pastor on staff at a church was tagged in a pornographic photo. He did not add the photo or have anything to do with the post. He was tagged by an individual whom he had added as a friend. The photo however appeared on the news feed of all his friends including even young teenagers. The photo was untagged, reported to Facebook and the “fake” individual was deleted from being this pastor’s friend. But by hiding tagged photos, the pastor’s friends would have never seen the offensive photo.
2. Verify that anyone you add as a friend is a real person.
   Purpose: The latest scam on Facebook is to create a fake profile and then add people as friends and steal their information as well as spam their personal profile. This is done by tagging them in inappropriate photos, posting comments on their wall, or sending them messages.
   How to know: Always visit the profile of the individual that has requested to be your friend. Look at your common friends, their information, wall, and photos. If there is little information, or the information seems strangely generic, do not add the individual.
3. Change your password frequently
   Purpose: This will prevent your profile from being hacked into. When your profile is hacked into, people can spam your friends.
   Idea: Change your password when you return home from visiting other countries or if you login to Facebook using an unsecure network.
4. Never post you home address in your profile.
5. Don’t post your full birthday day. (Omit the year of your birth).
   
6. Realize that by posting on a Facebook Page, your comment is public even to non Facebook users.
   Purpose: Because of the nature of Facebook Pages they are entirely public and all content on them is viewable by anyone on the internet regardless of their Facebook account status. Remember this information will help you keep your public comments general and void of private information.
7. Be careful of your posted photos and the privacy settings on them.
   Purpose: Photos are personal to you, but they can be copied from Facebook and used in other mediums. To avoid this, it is best to limit who can see your personal photos. By creating and using “lists” you can limit who can see your personal photos but still be able to share photos with faraway family members and friends.
8. Be proactive with your privacy settings.
   Purpose: Knowing what your settings are and what people can see is the best approach to protect the information available about you.