In the second quarter of 2019, Facebook had 2.41 billion monthly active users across the world. When you think about it, this is both amazing and somewhat scary at the same time.
While you can connect to someone halfway around the world with a click of a button, this also means complete strangers can learn all about you within a minute. And sometimes, they can achieve this without having to friend you!
This may be a cause for concern, which is why you need to learn how to adjust your privacy settings on Facebook. Read on to find out more about what settings are available and how you can set them.
Basic Facebook Account Settings
When you create a Facebook account, you can fill in as many details as you want. The profile sections include:
- Work and Education
- Places You’ve Lived
- Contact and Basic Info
- Family and Relationships
- Details About You
- Life Events
It can be fun to fill in all these details since your friends can see what you’ve been up to in your life. But the more information you fill out, the higher the chance you make yourself vulnerable to scammers.
Nowadays, cybercriminals do research on their victims through platforms like Facebook and perform digital attacks called phishing. As you can imagine, the more information they can gather on you, the more convincing they can be.
How to Fight Phishing
There are two ways to combat phishing. First, you can just leave your profile blank. But, that may not be very fun to do.
The other option is to fill out your details but also adjust your privacy settings for each field. There are 4 choices here:
- Public: This means every person who clicks on your Facebook profile can see your information, even if they’re not your friends.
- Friends: If people on your friends list click onto your profile, they can see what you’ve filled out. But for everyone else, they won’t see any information.
- Only me: When anyone clicks on your profile, they won’t see any of the fields you’ve chosen this option for. Only you can see what you’ve filled out for these.
- Custom: You can create a special list of people who can either see or not see your details. You can include groups you’re in, as well as friends of friends.
The custom option is best if you have a mix of real-life and online friends. That way, you can share vital details about yourself with your real-life friends (such as your telephone number) while keeping them private from your online friends.
Turn on Two-Factor Authentication
There may be a time where you try to log on and no matter how many times you try, it says you have the wrong username and password combination. You may think Facebook is down, but what’s really happened is someone got a hold of your login details, logged in themselves, and changed your password so you can’t get in anymore.
To avoid this scenario happening to you, you should enable two-factor authentication. This is an extra step in verifying your identity. After you enter your username and password, a code will be sent to either your phone or email.
You’ll need to enter this code into Facebook within a short time frame to log in successfully. Otherwise, the code will expire and you’ll need to request one again. If a scammer gets your login details, they won’t be able to make it past the login screen since they’ll need the second factor to continue on.
To turn this feature on, look on the top-right of your screen; there should be an arrow pointing downwards. Click on it, then select “Settings.” On the left, click “Security and Login.”
Here, there are several sections. Look to the middle where it says “Two-Factor Authentication” and click to turn it on.
From now on, whenever you log into your Facebook account from a new device, it’ll either ask you to type in a generated code from the app or email. You only need to do it once on each device; they’ll be verified after that, so you won’t be troubled with two-factor authentication every time you log in.
Basic Facebook Post Settings
Whenever you make posts on your account, there are a few settings you can pick to customize the audience. They’re the same options you have with your account settings: public, friends, only me, and custom.
For the best security possible, you should make sure your default setting is “friends” for your posts. If you ever want to make a public post, you can easily select that option on the dropdown menu when you’re typing it out.
Other Privacy Settings
Make sure you check out other settings by following the same steps outlined above. However, instead of clicking on “Security and Login,” choose the options in the second block, such as “Privacy” and “Blocking.”
Take the time to review each field in these, as it can significantly impact how your information is shared. If there are people you’re trying to avoid, then you’ll definitely want to list them in the “Blocking” section.
Make Sure to Adjust Your Privacy Settings on Facebook
Facebook can be a fun social media platform to be on, but you always have to make sure you stay safe. By knowing how to adjust your privacy settings on Facebook, you’ll be able to connect with new people without divulging too much of your personal information.
By being in control of your privacy settings, you’ll have a safer and more comfortable experience online.
Do you have any more questions about Facebook? Then make sure to ask one of our experts!