The Golden Rule of Facebook Privacy:

There are currently more than 600 million users on Facebook and most of them access the space unfazed by rumours about security and privacy issues. Facebook is, after all, all about sharing, so worrying about privacy would be sort of like diving into the sea and then complaining that you got wet. 

But there are lots of people who are dipping their toes tentatively into the popular social networking site because, heck, everybody seems to be there. Still, they worry about strangers hacking into their profiles and perhaps seeing photos of their children, or seeing where they live and knowing when they’re on vacation, and even really bad guys potentially stealing their identity.

Questions about online privacy often arise when I’m setting up accounts for non-profit groups and businesses, and I take care to walk clients through their privacy settings. In my view, it’s not much different than learning to look twice before crossing the road; we should all be social media savvy and practice safe engagement online.  

The good news is that Facebook is constantly upgrading their site to give users more options and control over what others can and cannot see when they land on their personal profile pages. The flipside of that is that once people set up their accounts, they rarely go back in and review their settings. But just like booking regular dentist appointments, it’s a really good idea to set up a “review my settings” session with yourself once a quarter.

I was going to share a few new privacy features recently introduced by Facebook but my friend Brendon Walker does it so well in this video he created for his company Centric Consulting that I’m simply going to encourage everybody reading this to take a look.

And the golden rule? Never, ever, ever post anything online that you wouldn’t put on a great big sign on your front yard. Got it? Be safe kids.