Six Steps To Secure Your Facebook Profile!

After Facebook rolled out its recent changes in Graph Search, it has given rise to new risks in terms of what can be controlled and what cannot be. But if you still want to keep your account safe, the best option is to limit how people see and share your posts, tags, images and location. We bring to you steps to take to reclaim some privacy on Facebook.

1. Start from the Privacy Settings section

The primary way to control your information on Facebook starts by configuring the Privacy Settings area. Head to the Privacy Settings section by using the drop down menu on the upper righthand corner of your profile.

2. Who should see your posts?

Facebook's main privacy tools are broken down into three primary areas, which focus on who can see what you post, who can contact you, and how you can be looked up using the Web or personal details (phone numbers, or email).

When it comes to who can see your stuff, the first option deals with "future" posts – as in posts from this point forward. The recommended setting is friends, as this limits the amount of people who can passively see what you've written. It will also limit the types of posts that appear in Graph Search results.

3. Examine your Activity Log thoroughly

After that, you'll want to enable the Activity Log, which allows you to be selective about which posts appear on your timeline. Through the log, you'll see all the images and posts you're tagged in, with the option to remove the tag, as well as disallow it from appearing on your timeline. You can also see (and delete) old posts, images, check-ins, and comments you've made.

4. Limit past posts

The last thing to do in this section is to limit your past posts. Facebook will throw a warning when you attempt to do this, because all of the old post (going back to your very first one) that may be public will be removed. For a company that encourages sharing, this isn't something they'd like to see. Also, the process cannot be reversed. Keep in mind - individual posts can be left public if you wish, but the recommendation is to limit all of them, and then sort out what should be kept after the fact.

5. How easily can your profile be found?

After altering those settings, you'll move on to manage the contact and lookup functions. When it comes to who can send friend requests on the site, the option is really a personal one. Most people (myself included) opt to leave this set to everyone. However, to lower the amount of network spam from random users, the strict filtering option is enabled for Inbox messages.

For lookups, friends only is the safest bet, otherwise anyone who already sees your email address or phone number, can use those to search for your profile. Also, if you allow search engines to link to your profile, then sites like Google and Bing can index and link to your profile and timeline.

6. Future posts can now be managed for privacy

After you've managed your Activity Log, which has clear markers as to the sorting and management of posts, you mat want to change the privacy settings of a single post on your timeline. When this happens, you can do this directly by clicking the arrow just under your name. Optionally, there is a pencil icon to the upper right of the post's box, which can be used to edit or delete the post.