Facebook: Before you add a new friend

Before you add a new friend, THINK AND SEARCH.

As useful as Facebook is, you face a great risk if you do not protect your account from people with suspicious motives.
Facebook’s tag line is very inviting. It reads, “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” Truly, millions of people worldwide have accordingly benefited from the popular social site. The snag, however, is that it can also leave one’s privacy at the mercy of online thieves if one fails to sieve the information one posts on it, or fails to protect one’s account jealously.

Since 2004 when Facebook was founded by the then Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg, it has continued to help connect people to their long lost friends, family and loved ones. The site has also assisted security agents in tracking criminals, fugitives and giving a background check/assessment for intending employees.

But since it throws open its doors to people of all sex, ages and race, the social network site has become an all-comer affair. The ease of use makes it vulnerable to abuse, online bullying and paedophiles posing as children in order to indoctrinate unsuspecting victims. It is also at times manipulated as a channel for threats to life.

It does not matter whether or not your privacy has been infringed upon but as long as you own a Facebook account, it is pertinent to safeguard your account and information from ‘prowling unwanted eyes’.

The rule of thumb for every social network or website remains, ‘Think before you click.’ Yet, experts say for a site such as Facebook, it can be a little bit complicated, especially since it constantly suggests that you add more information, whether it’s to connect with more people, find old friends or simply represent yourself more fully in the Facebook community. As a result, for every bit of information a user shares on the site, the consequences are his/hers alone to bear at the end of the day.

The foundation of the caution that must be taken starts with the need to regulate one’s input. If you do not want personal information available to Facebook, do not give it out. Among other web groups, msnmoney.com, offers very stringent measurers that can prevent intrusion. It advises that you do not even have to provide a photo: your name, gender and date of birth are all that is required to signup, while gender and age can also be hidden if you choose. It adds that if you do not want people to be able to find you, your profile, posts, content or personal information on search engines, it only takes a few clicks to make you practically invisible.

A secondary school teacher and active ‘Facebooker’ since 2008, Becky Amah is of the opinion that whatever happens to a Facebook profile is entirely up to the user. She says, “If you are willing to explore your security options and settings, you save yourself a lot of hassles and undue pressure. If you dig into your privacy and notification settings, as well as your lists, you can make sure nobody ever gets to see anything you do not want them to see.”

In order to also protect your Facebook account, click on the ‘Account’ button on the top right of the screen. Drop down to ‘Privacy Buttons;’ click on ‘Applications and Websites’. Then, click on ‘What you Share’, and on ‘Learn More’ thereafter.

For each application, go to ‘Edit Settings’ and make it as secure as you want. Also consider ‘What your friends can show about you’ under Applications and Websites. Finally, look at your settings for ‘Instant Personalisation Pilot Program’. Uncheck the box that allows Facebook partners to access your public information whenever you visit their websites.