On Facebook? Read This.

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On Facebook a lot? Think what you put up and do there is under your control because you’re careful about what you share? Think again.

More than 350 thousand software applications¹ now have unlimited access to virtually everything you post there. Don’t like that? You can stop all 350,000 applications from using your information—if you opt out 350,000 times (you have to opt out for each one).²

Unless you set every privacy setting carefully—which can take hours—millions (that’s right, millions) of companies and people now have access to key information about you—forever.³

Your username, profile photos, lists of friends, pages you are fan of, your gender, and networks you belong to are up for grabs.⁴ Facebook says that information is publicly available to any search engine, any Internet user, and to “every application and website, including those you have not connected with….”⁵

If you’re on Facebook as much as I am, you do need to think a lot more carefully about what you throw out there.

Try these tips for help:

1. Go to your privacy settings now, and set them properly. Be very careful: According to many privacy groups, Facebook has made it harder for you to stop them from releasing your information with recent changes in their privacy policy.⁶
2. Never put up a photo unless you’re sure you want to give away access to that photo forever.
3. Put up less information. Does the world really need to know every detail of your life? Forever?

Want to know more about this issue? Google “Facebook Privacy.” And while you’re at it, share this article with your friends on Facebook!

And, be sure to let me know what you think: will@foolproofhq.com

Cheers, Will.

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