Category Archives: Adjust Default Privacy Settings

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Hide Facebook Likes, Hide Likes from Timeline, Layered Privacy

The Ultimate Facebook Like Guide – Part Two

Leave a comment

Our last post detailed how to hide or unhide your Facebook Likes ‘box’. Here’s that post: Part One of the Ultimate Facebook Likes Guide  In that post, we showed you how to control the privacy of each like. Since that part is a bit confusing, here’s a guide to the whole ‘Like’ section.

Before we begin, some explanation is required. The ‘likes’ we are talking about here are those that pertain to your interests, things such as Music, Television, Books, etc. None of this applies to photos or comments that you click ‘like’ on. As you know, those ‘likes’ are controlled by the owner’s privacy settings, not yours. Are we clear on that? If you like Ally’s photo, only Ally controls who sees either the photo or the fact that you like it. The only way to hide your ‘like’ is to ‘unlike’ it. Same goes for your comments, your liking a comment, etc. You control things that you post. You do not control anything that you do not post.

Second point: Some things, such as Music and Film, can only be hidden or shown as a group. If you like the Beatles and want to show everyone that you do, you can show them ALL of the music you like. If you like the Backstreet Boys and DO NOT want anyone to know that, you have to hide ALL of the music that you like. If you’ve got your main section settings set to ‘Friends’ or ‘Public’, and you happen to add Britney Spears to your Music likes, everyone will know. The ONLY way you can hide it is to remove poor old Britney from your list or hide the whole section.

Let’s get started. From your Timeline, click on Update Info. The rest of this post flows down from the top to the bottom of the page that comes up next after you click Update Info.

Photo of Ultimate Guide 1
Hide everything by clicking the Edit icon and selecting Hide Section.

 

Working down from the top, let’s see what you can hide and what you can’t.

1. About – You can hide different parts of your information. Click the Edit icon in each section to see what you can hide.

2. TV programmes – It’s all or one for this. Show everything or hide everything.

3. Books – All or none.

4. Films – All or none

5. Music – All or none.

6. Music – All or none.

7. Friends – Show all or hide all EXCEPT for mutual friends. If you have a mutual friend with someone, you can’t hide that.

8. Photos – You have complete control of all of your photos EXCEPT your Timeline cover photos. Please remember that you can’t hide your cover photos. We said that twice simply to emphasize it. If you have a questionable cover photo, everyone who sees your Facebook profile, even if they are not friends of yours, can see it.

9. Games (Recent Games, actually) – All or none.

10. Places – All or none.

That’s it for the sections of your ‘likes’ or your favorites. (Maybe everyone should start to use the term favorites instead of likes. It gets confusing otherwise, right? Read on….)

OK, now we are into the last section of these favorites. Conveniently, Facebook has named them Likes! The final section is divided up into these categories:

Other Likes, Inspirational People, Sports, Sports Teams, Athletes, Games, Activities and Interests. 

In previous posts, we’ve used the term ‘page likes’ for these items. Until recently, you could hide some of your individual likes but now it’s different. For better or worse, you only get to show or hide ALL of each category.  Click on any of the topics at the top of your Likes section. Most of them would probably be under the heading ‘Other Likes’, at least they were for us. Now you don’t have to worry about hiding some but showing others. It’s easy to hide them all. Click the edit icon on the right side and choose Edit Privacy. Here’s what you see:

Photo of Ultimate Guide 2
Choose your privacy settings here.

 

If a Facebook page doesn’t fall into one of the main categories, it will be placed under ‘Other Likes’. Keep that in mind. As you scan your individual likes, you’ll see a sub-heading under the name. Some may be Theatre or Travel Agency or something completely different. Weixin, for instance, is listed as an ‘Interest’ under ‘Activities’. Weixin or WeChat really isn’t an activity, it’s a bit of software.  Somehow it’s shown as an interest. Go figure.

We mention this because you may decide to show your ‘like’ of Inspirational People. Well, if you look at the list of inspirational people, you may be quite surprised at who Facebook deems ‘influential’. You may be expecting Mother Theresa but Charlize Theron shows up in the suggestion box. If you’ve chosen to Like Theron and expect her to show up under ‘Other Likes’ that you’ve hidden, you’d be surprised to find out that she’s in the Inspirational People section that you’ve chosen to show. See what we mean?

TIP: Facebook uses your Likes and Interests (Favorites) to tune the ads that you see on your pages. If you like Guitars, you will see Guitar ads. It’s that simple. Choosing a certain genre of movie or a certain type of music will almost certainly put you into an age demographic that Facebook will mine for ads that you just might click on. If do, they make money. Keep that in mind when you’re blithely ‘liking’ things that you see on Facebook.

There’s more to this than meets the eye, isn’t there? In our next post we’re going to get into these likes in more detail. Now you know what you can hide and what you can’t, we’ll work on some deeper concepts next time.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks, Layered Privacy, Timeline

Facebook – control posts on your timeline

Leave a comment

Have you ever something posted on your Facebook Timeline that wasn’t appropriate? Something that upset you? Have you recently been tagged in some crazy photo or video? Here’s how to stop things like this from ruining your day.

1. Head over to your Account Settings:

Click on the gear (settings) then Account Settings.
Click on the gear (settings) then Account Settings.

 

2. Click on Timeline and Tagging:

Photo of Privacy 2
Timeline and Tagging.

 

3. Click on the word Edit up on the right. Start at the top and work down.

Photo of Privacy 3
Click on Edit.

 

4. Who can add things to my Timeline? You can choose to block all of your friends. Unfortunately, you can’t block only some of your friends. It’s all or nothing.

Photo of Privacy 4
Tough decision here, right?

 

5. If you choose to allow your friends to post on your Facebook Timeline, make sure you also choose to review those posts:

Photo of Privacy 5
Review posts before they show up on your Timeline. Read the warning note, though.

 

TIP: Make sure you read the note in the photo above, the one that says that nothing is private on Facebook. Quote: Note: This only controls what’s allowed on your timeline. Posts you’re tagged in still appear in search, news feed and other places on Facebook.

6. Limit visibility of posts that you’ve been tagged in:

Photo of Privacy 6
Set this to ‘Only Me’. No one else has to see the posts, right?

 

7. Continue on down the list and edit each one so that they match your own level of security and privacy. Here is an important one:

Photo of Privacy 7
Make sure you review tags on your own posts BEFORE they show up on your Timeline.

 

We hope this tour of your Timeline privacy settings helps you keep unwanted posts and tags off your Facebook page. Remember that you can block someone who posts troublesome things on your Timeline. Choose your friends wisely, right?

Thanks for reading!

Follow us on Facebook. Just click Like and you’ll get all our updates and tech tips as soon as we post them: Computers Made Simple on Facebook

 

 

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Facebook, Facebook Ad Privacy Settings, Privacy

Welcome to Your Facebook Interview!

Leave a comment

Hi! Glad you could make it. Hey, before we begin, give me your real name and email address. Yes, it has to be a real email address and, yes, you must give us your real name. OK good, thanks. Now, tell us about yourself. Here’s what we need to know:

1. How old are you?

2. Are you male or female?

3. What is your current location? Yes, we need city, state and country.

4. For security purposes only, we need your phone number. Better give us your cell number too.

5. Where did you go to school? Try to list every school that you attended…ever.

6. Where have you worked in the past? Yes, we need a complete history.

7. Now we need a recent photo of you, your family and friends, your home…anything to make you more interesting to us. If you have a bikini photo, even better. We ask guys if they have a photo where they’re not wearing a shirt. We love that kind of thing. What was that? Yes, we will use your photos for our own promotions and we won’t tell you about it. OK? Privacy? Well…we have some privacy settings but they’re really hard to figure out and we keep changing them, almost every month. Better leave your stuff open to the public. It’s better that way.

8. What do you like? Yes, we know. There are so many things to like in the world, right? Well, we’ve broken everything up into categories. Music, video, hobbies…all laid out for you. Why do we need these? It’s simple really. We sell your information to advertisers. Once you tell us everything about yourself, we turn around and tune the ads that you see to your own demographic. Do you make any money from all of this? Certainly not! This is our company, not yours. We just use your information, we’re not about to pay you for anything. It’s a privilege to be with us, you should know that!

9. We also need some of your financial details…well, we would like them. Maybe you could give us your credit card number, simple things like that. Security? Oh yes, we have pretty good security here. What’s that? Well, we have been broken into a few times but not much was stolen. No, not much. Just a complete list of usernames and passwords, nothing major.

Photo of Facebook Logo
Look familiar!

 

We think you get the point. Share, reveal personal details, give out your personal information just like that, let complete strangers see your photos….it’s all there on Facebook. The point of this article is simply to make you think about what you’re doing. Hand all of this stuff out and let Facebook make money on it. Is that what you signed up for?

Photo of Facebook Warning
Facebook is very helpful, that’s for sure.

Sign up for Facebook and your profile photo might end up in a facepile somewhere. Anyone in the world could click on your photo and be taken directly to your Facebook profile page. Here’s an example:

Photo of Facepile
If you see something like this, click on a face and see what happens.

 

Make sure you set your privacy settings accordingly to avoid being seen on a website. You have no control over where Facebook posts things like this but you can control whether they can use your photo or not.

We’re simply trying to make you think. Be smart, learn all you can about Facebook privacy before you reveal too much of yourself to strangers.

Photo of Time Cover
This man is a billionaire because of your information.

 

Thanks for reading! Let us know if you have problems with anything on Facebook. We’ll try to help.

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook

How to Beat Facebook at Its Own Game

Leave a comment

Facebook loves the fact that people share everything on their platform. In fact, the more you share, the more money Facebook makes on your information and preferences. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a bit concerned about privacy and how Facebook plays fast and loose with it. Here’s how to tune your profile so you can trick Facebook into thinking you’re someone other than who you really are.

1. While Facebook pretends that you have to use your real name on your profile, there is no real reason to do this. On Facebook, and on the Internet in general, you can be whoever you want to be. If you’re worried about whether your friends will recognize you, keep your real last name or, if you’re a female, use your maiden name. There are many ways around the ‘real name’ restriction but just remember that you don’t have to play by the rules here. Why is this important? Well, once Facebook has your real name, they can sell your information to third party advertisers, complete with your home city or state. This leads us to the next available spoof.

2. Don’t use your real city/town/country. Even if your IP address says that you are coming from Timbuktu, you can always tell Facebook that you live in Cincinnati, and vice versa. As long as your friends know who you are and where you really live, if they are real friends of course, you can tell Facebook that you live somewhere else.

3. Why does Facebook have to know how old you are? Simply because they can tune their ads to your age demographic. Why let them? You don’t have to give your real age when signing up and, if you do, you don’t have to show the year you were born. Adjust your privacy settings to show only the date, not the year. We all know that young teens or pre-teens pretend to be older when they sign up for Facebook. You can do the same thing …in reverse.

4. When you’re posting a photo of your house/dog/cat/kids, tag the photo with some random location. Facebook doesn’t have to know where you go or what you do. Your friends will know that it’s your house/dog/cat or kid, Facebook doesn’t have to.

5. There is no reason to share your sex, your marriage status, your date of birth, your political views, etc. Your friends already know you or they can ask if they want more information. Facebook pretends that this information is vital to your success on the site but, come on, why would anyone share this stuff in public?

Here are some photos of different settings that are available. Many of our friends do not use their real name while others change their name later on. You’re allowed to do one change on the same profile so change to a nickname or just make up a new one. It’s simple to message someone and say, ” Hey, this is me. I changed my name.”

Photo of Facebook photo.
This photo was taken in Toronto. You can tell Facebook that it was taken just about anywhere.

 

Photo of Facebook photo 2.
Use this page to hide your personal information from Facebook and strangers.

 

Remember to hide what you can, change everything else and pretty much tell Facebook to stuff it. There is no need to share any personal information with them. Good luck and let us know if you have questions about any of this. We’re here to help.

Thanks for reading!

Follow us on Facebook and keep up with the latest tech news: Computers Made Simple on Facebook

Adjust Default Privacy Settings, Controlled sharing, Facebook, Facebook page likes, Facebook Secrets, Facebook Tricks, Hide Game Updates, Hide Likes from Timeline

How to Hide Anything on Facebook

9 Comments

It seems we’ve been writing about Facebook for longer than Facebook has been around. Judging from the popularity of our “Hiding Likes on Facebook” posts, everyone has something to hide. In this post, which will be a long one, all we’re going to do is post screen captures of as many Facebook menus as we can find. In some photos you won’t see a menu but in the next one, we’ll show you where to find it.

Before we begin, there are two caveats here. First, while we’ll show you how to hide almost everything on Facebook, some of those things may pop up in other areas. Consider the fact that liking a page is different from showing that like later on in a series of your ‘likes’. Liking and showing likes are two different things. For this reason, we suggest that you don’t do something on Facebook that would cause you grief later on in your life or your career.

Secondly, there are two things that you cannot hide on Facebook. First, photos that you post cannot be completely hidden. You can selectively choose who can see the photo but you can’t completely hide it. Think about it. Facebook employees can see the photo, right? Even if the privacy settings for that photo are set to ‘Only Me’, someone at Facebook can see it.

Lastly, you cannot hide mutual friends from anyone. Yes, you can partially hide your friend list but you can’t hide the fact that you have a mutual friend with someone. If being friends with someone will cause problems in your life, especially if that person is a friend of a friend, you can’t hide it. We can see many situations where this would cause a problem so keep this in mind when you’re ‘friending’ someone.

TIP: Why did we say that you could partially hide your friend list? Read this post and you will see why. You can set your friend list’s privacy to ‘Only Me’ but that won’t prevent Facebook from suggesting every one of your friends to someone else. Here’s the link to the post: Stalking Friends on Facebook

Here we go with the screen caps:

Photo of HIde 1
Most things that you’ve done are shown on your Activity Log, available from your Timeline.

 

Photo of HIde 2
On the right side of almost all items shown, there is an edit icon which allows you to hide that activity from your Timeline.

 

TIP: Remember that you can’t hide comments that you make on something that you did not post. Keep that in mind. If you like a photo that someone else posted, you can’t hide it. Same thing for a comment on a photo. You can’t hide that either. All of those things are controlled by the privacy settings that the other person used. Make sure you understand this before you go randomly clicking ‘Like’ on photos or making comments on things posted by other people.

Photo of HIde 3
On your Timeline, you can find the edit icon up on the top right of most boxes.

 

Photo of HIde 4
You can check on story types that you have hidden. Seems we haven’t hidden any…yet.

 

Photo of HIde 5
Here, we’ve hidden three types of activity.

 

Photo of HIde 6
Click the arrow to open up all the boxes in your Favourites. Only then can you edit them.

 

Photo of HIde 7
You can swap positions or remove the box from your Favorites.

 

 

Photo of HIde 8
If the box menu isn’t open, you can’t edit any of the Favorite boxes. Click the arrow just to the right of the 4.

 

 

Photo of HIde 9
See? Now the Places or Maps box can be edited.

 

Photo of HIde 10
You can check what posts you’ve hidden by looking at your Activity Log and choosing the correct link on the left.

 

Photo of HIde 11
Here is the full list of activities that you can check by clicking More down near the bottom (shown as Less here).

 

Photo of HIde 12
Hide all of your game posts here. Click the Stop Publishing Activity. Please do this for your friends!

 

 

Photo of Hide 13
Hide all Friending activity here.

 

Photo of Hide 14
Here’s where you can hide your friend list from everyone or from some people, Choose ‘Custom’ to select specific people or lists.

 

This has been a long post, we know that, but we think you’ll be able to find most of what you’re looking for here. If not, let us know! We love questions.

Thanks for reading! Follow us on Facebook. Just click Like and you’ll get our updates and tech tips as soon as we post them: Computers Made Simple on Facebook