Category Archives: Facebook Groups

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook, Facebook Ad Privacy Settings, Facebook Groups, Facebook Tricks, Layered Privacy, Turn off location mapping

Facebook Safety Tips

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We were adjusting a few things on one of our accounts last week using the ‘View As’ feature. It must have been the first time we had used this tool because this message popped up:

Photo of Facebook's View As warning
Seems like nothing is really private, right?

 

Read that carefully folks. We’ve said it before but it’s worth repeating here: Don’t put anything on Facebook that you’ll regret later on, even if you hide it. Someone will almost certainly find it.

At about the same time, we discovered that your group affiliation is very visible, even if you hide everything about your groups from your profile. We checked one of our profiles from a different browser and there they were, all of our groups at the bottom of our profile. We’re pretty sure we weren’t signed into Facebook on that browser and had clicked on one of the facepiles on a site that we use. If we ever duplicate that glitch, we’ll be sure to save some screen captures.

Although we have written many posts about how to hide this and how to control access to that, there is one main point to keep in mind. A simple glitch on Facebook’s site has the potential to reveal anything or everything about you. That’s something to remember every time you use the site. You must also remember that Facebook itself has access to your material. Any employee with the right type of credentials could sift through your private photos, notes and messages. You may not know this but Facebook uses offshore workers to control its censorship policies. Offshore here means ‘not in North America’. Think about that the next time you post something that you think is shared only with a few friends.

We’re convinced that Facebook’s privacy controls are weak and, in many cases, ineffective. Facebook wants you to feel warm and cozy when you are on their site, using their seemingly effective privacy controls but, as we have discovered in the photo above, the controls are meaningless.

Here some safety tips that we’ve come up with. From time to time, we may add more to this list.

1. If you access the Internet on a shared computer, which is a bad idea at the best of times, make sure you remember to sign out from Facebook and, of course, don’t allow any browser to remember your password.

2. Don’t join any groups that may cause problems for you or your family. The group privacy controls are independent of your own settings and are needlessly confusing. If you feel the need to join a sketchy group, read number 3.

3. Create a second profile using a nickname or fake name and, above all, don’t use your real photo. Tell Facebook that you’re in Zimbabwe or Timbuktu, lie about your age and/or gender and access whatever scandalous groups, pages, people that you want, all in complete privacy. Use a new email address from Outlook or Gmail, not your ISP’s email setup, and only use that for the fake Facebook account. Don’t use your real name for the email account, either. Just remember that the authorities can always trace your IP address so keep all of your activities aboveboard, right?

4. Only add people that you know or have been recommended by friends. You don’t have to accept invitations from strangers. If you don’t know someone, don’t confirm the friendship. If they really persist, just block them.

5. Keep track of how your cell phone or tablet interacts with Facebook. Are you sharing your location every time you post something? Is Facebook accessing your contact list? Are you sharing more than you think you are? You have to ask yourself if Facebook is so important in your life that you might risk your own personal safety to use it. What about your children? Do they access Facebook through their cell phones? How much are they sharing? Start a dialogue with them and get some answers.

6. Create a Facebook account just for your family. If you’re going to share family pics, complete with details of your home, cars and location, make sure they are only seen by trusted family members. Once you get family mixed up with friends, you lose control of your privacy. Your family already knows where you live so you don’t have to draw a map to your house, right? Don’t share that information on Facebook . Share the cute, cuddly dog/cat/kid pics but don’t share everything!

7. Weed out your friend list, keeping in mind number 4. If there is someone you don’t know or don’t remember how you added them, get rid of them. Keep your friend list to just that, friends. If you take our advice in number 3, you can add whoever the heck you want, they won’t any danger to you.

8. This is important so read it carefully. If you are sending a message to someone that includes any personal information or is on a topic that could potentially cause problems for you, don’t send it. Use a proper and secure email system for those messages. Facebook messages may seem like email but they really aren’t. Think of them more like an interoffice memo. Facebook itself is not secure, right? How could its email system be any different?

9. If you are a teacher, don’t even think about using your real name or photo for your Facebook profile. Use a nickname, one your students don’t know, and restrict your profile photo and cover photos to ones that reveal nothing about you. You can’t hide your profile photo or any of your cover photos. Remember that.

10. If you are not a teacher, read number 9. Profile and cover photos cannot be hidden.

11. We’ve left the best till last. Here’s what a facepile looks like:

Photo of Facebook Facepile
Is your face here? Is your child’s?

These are real and clickable Facebook profile photos. Anyone, anywhere in the world can click on those photos and be taken directly to a Facebook profile. Depending on how much information that person shares, in the blink of an eye a stranger could find out a city, a street and, sometimes, an address. Go back and read number 3 again. Can you see how this facepile relates to that suggestion? If you’re going to like a page, in this case Songza, why use your real profile photo? Use your fake account and go crazy liking this and that, knowing that no one can ever connect you to anything you do on Facebook. Think about it, OK?

Those are eleven suggestions to keep safe on Facebook. There are probably at least as many more but we’ll leave those for another post. Facebook is fun, addicting but, unfortunately, very deceptive in its practices.  The nice folks there want you to share everything, like everything and toss your privacy to the wind, just so they can make money selling your profile to advertisers. Don’t let them sell you out.

Thanks for reading! Comments and suggestions are welcome, as always.

 

Facebook, Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups – Not as scary as you might think

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Facebook groups can be a lot of fun, just remember that you can’t opt-out of being added to one. As we said in our last post, any of your friends can add you to a group…without your consent. As soon as you are notified of this, you can leave the group easily. Aside from that little bit of weirdness, Facebook groups serve a real purpose. Here’s everything you need to know about setting one up:

1. On the left side of your normal Facebook page, as opposed to your own timeline, look down near the bottom for the words ‘Create Group’.

Photo of Groups 1
Click on Create Group.

 

2. This menu opens up once you click on Create Group:

Photo of Groups 2
Here is where you decide what kind of group you want to create.

Read this menu carefully. Make sure you know what you’re getting into if the group is anything other than mainstream. The tip below has some points. Once you decide, make up a group name and then add at least one member. Facebook won’t let you create a group unless there is one member besides yourself. Then click Create.

TIP: As far as we can tell, even if the group is ‘Open’, there are no notifications of its presence on any non-group member’s timeline, even when a member makes a post. There is nothing to say that a person is in any group whatsoever. Right now, we don’t see the difference between the Open or Closed or Secret setting. We stand to be corrected but we think the setting has more to do with who can be added to a group, more than what notifications your friends see.

 

3. When you are adding members, simply start to type the friend’s first or last name and the drop-down menu will give you various names to choose from:

Photo of Groups 3
We typed z and still got some names to choose from.

 

4. Choose an icon for your group. This is probably handy when you’re a member of many different groups.

Photo of Groups icons
Choose an icon next.

 

5. Now you get a chance to edit your group’s settings and choose an email address for the group.

Photo of Groups 5
After the group is created, head over to ‘Edit Group Settings’

 

6. Here is where you can decide how members are added, set up a group Facebook email address and adjust posting permissions.

Photo of Groups 6
Check this menu out carefully.

 

7. Why not set up a group email address? Members can then email in messages or posts from anywhere.

Photo of Groups 7
Don’t leave spaces in the name and keep it short for convenience.

 

8. Now for the most important point. If  someone adds you to a group but you don’t want to be in the group, go to the group page and click on the word Notifications. This menu will pop down:

Photo of Groups 8
This is how you leave the group.

 

As time goes on, we’ll see if our theory on group privacy is different from what we’ve written here. As far as we know, these settings have been in place since 2010. If you can add some information about who sees what in the news feed re: groups that your friends are in, please comment below. Right now, we can’t see how anyone else knows what groups their friends are in, even if they are Open groups. If we’re wrong, let us know.

As always, thanks for reading!

Facebook, Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups – No way to opt out of them

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You may have seen in the news lately that some gay students in Texas were outed in a Facebook group, totally without their consent. This outing was not done maliciously but, seeing as how Texas is quite backward, caused these students significant grief and pain. You might think that you have a choice when it comes to Facebook groups but, unfortunately, you don’t. Anyone who is a friend of yours on Facebook can freely add you to a group. There is no way to opt-out of this, you can’t stop any of your friends from adding you to any group they start. Here’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about:

Mark Zuckerberg quits NAMBLA (yes, you read that correctly.)

 

Seeing as how you can’t opt-out of groups, there are only two ways that you can prevent being added to Facebook groups. The first is simple, check your friend list. If you have some practical jokers there, get rid of them as friends. As we’ve shown you, they can add you to any group they want and, until you quit the group, you can’t do anything about it.

The second option is virtually impossible, but if you’ve got a lot of time, maybe you can do it. Simply put, Facebook has a maximum limit of 300 groups that any one person can join. Therefore, if you start 300 groups and add yourself to them, no one will be able to add you to any group they start. Yes, it is a waste of time, for sure.

Over the next few posts, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about Facebook groups. Here’s a shot of the group privacy menu:

Photo of group privacy policies
Open, closed or secret. You decide.

 

Stay tuned. We’ll show you everything you need to know about groups…except how to opt-out. You can’t. Remember that.

Thanks for reading!