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When I first signed up for a Facebook account, I joined as a way to share information with people whom I chose. And,that is the way Facebook worked. Facebook kept my information protected. Now, however, much of your information, posts, comments, etc. is made available by default to anyone. Yes, anyone. Here is a quote from the Facebook Privacy Policy:

When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. We may also make information about the location of your computer or access device and your age available to applications and websites in order to help them implement appropriate security measures and control the distribution of age-appropriate content. If the application or website wants to access any other data, it will have to ask for your permission.

The above is frightening. But, you do have some control. That control is not easy to find or understand. This post is part of a series with some instructions on gaining control over what is shared. I will also offer some suggestions and warnings.

Facebook privacy settings default to ‘Everyone’. So, unless you have explicitly made changes to your privacy settings, much of your information is available to the world. Because I feel they are the most dangerous, I am going to start with gaining control over applications. Applications are those games, icons, anything that is posting to your news feed or wall on behalf of you or your friends. If you have your privacy settings set to the default, you are giving these applications more info than you should.

To gain control over what you give to applications log in to your Facebook account. Next, in the top-right corner of a Facebook page, click on ‘Account’. You will be given a drop-down menu with several options, choose ‘Application Settings’. Then, you are taken to a page with your recently used applications. Near the top of the page, next to the word ‘Show’ there is a drop-down menu. Change this menu to ‘Authorized’. The next page shows all of the applications you have authorized to access your info. I bet you don’t remember a lot of them.

My first recommendation is to delete any application you do not use. To delete an application, click on the ‘x’ to the far right on the line with the application name. Facebook will try to talk you out of deleting it. If you are sure you do not want the application, click on remove.

For the applications you do want, you need to take control over what information you share. To take control, to the right of an application name click on ‘Edit Settings’. You will be given a dialog box with options for settings. These options vary by application. If the application you are adjusting shares info with others, you can control with whom it shares your information. Next to ‘Privacy’ there is a drop-down menu with several choices. Your choices are ‘Everyone’(the world), ‘Friends and Networks’ (your friends and all members of any networks to which you belong), ‘Friends of Friends’ (your friends and their friends), ‘Only Friends’ (Only people you have approved as friends), and ‘Customize’ (you can choose specifically who can see info from the app). I set most of mine to ‘Friends’. You may want to consider the other options in some situations.

The above can be seen as a complex string of instructions. Don’t be overwhelmed. It is important that you control the sharing of your private information. Please open a second window with your Facebook account open. Follow the instructions one-by-one, and you will be successful.

In the comments below, please post questions, success stories, or ideas for further instructions. My next post will be about protecting your images and information from showing up in ads. Yes, Facebook allows advertisers’ ads to include information you share.

Roger Creasy is Director of Interactive Operations for the Times-News. Roger can be e-mailed at rcreasy@thetimesnews.com. His personal web site is at RogerCreasy.com

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