3 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Facebook Privacy … and Probably Should

There are plenty of privacy concerns on Facebook. Here are three you might not be aware of.

1. Facebook can get you fired.

Not only that, but it can also stop you from getting that dream job as well. Research clearly shows that more and more employers – or potential employers – are using social media to check up on employees or job candidates.

The Internet is rife with examples. Just ask Johnny Cook, a school bus driver from Georgia who only 2 weeks from the date of this article lost his job because of a post he made on Facebook about a student being denied lunch for falling a few cents short of the cost required for a school dinner.

Remember that you always need to know who can see what information you upload to Facebook, such as the posts you make, the photos you upload and [always worth remembering] that your profile photo and cover photo are public! Also images uploaded by other people that you get tagged in may be public as well, depending on the uploaders privacy settings!

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2. The most innocuous data about you can still be a criminal’s goldmine.

So you make a public post about next week’s summer holiday plans onto your timeline. That’s pretty harmless right? After all, what does a scammer care if you’re hitting Ibiza hard next Monday? Well you’d be surprised. Victims of burglaries have owed their misfortune to careless Facebook posts they made about their holiday plans, after the criminals were able to work out when they’d be leaving their house to go on holiday, and leaving their house empty and vulnerable.

Not only that, but identity thieves can accumulate information about you to help them take on your identity. Seemingly innocent information, such as pet names, school names, friends names, family information – all information people willingly post online – can be accumulated by criminals to help them take on the role of YOU, and it can help them steal social media accounts, banking accounts and much more.

Remember to be careful what you post and keep all of your information private or friends only!

3. Certain information on Facebook is public, and you cannot change that.

We’ve already mentioned that your profile and cover pics are public. Anyone, and we mean anyone, can visit your profile and see those two pictures. So if you don’t want any photos of, for example, your children, to be public, then do not make them your profile or cover photo.

But it’s not just this. Anything you post to an open group or Facebook Page is public as well, including posts and photos you upload. Not only this but anything you do or upload to a Page can be broadcast to your friends through the Facebook ticker, for example ”John Smith posted onto ThatsNonsense.com’s Wall.” This includes posts, comments to posts, sharing links or uploading photos or videos.

So if you find yourself in, for example, a heated argument on some Facebook Page, be careful what you post, because the chances are the Facebook Ticker is helping to keep many of your friends updated to what is being said!!

These are not the only privacy issues on Facebook by a long way. For information on privatising your account and thus lessening your chances of having a privacy issue on the site read our article on locking down your Facebook account.

And as an added bonus, a recent report on Mashable tells us that a whopping 13 million users have not even looked at or touched their Facebook privacy settings! And people are still surprised when their social media activity comes back to haunt them!