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Securing your Facebook account

More than 500 million people have signed up to social networking website Facebook. While the less discerning seem to have made it their goal to invite just about every other member to become their Facebook friend, the most paranoid of users have just invited their immediate family.

Facebook friends are able to read each other’s profiles, look at each other’s pictures and write messages on each other’s virtual walls, which other friends can see, or send each other private messages through webmail.

It’s a great way to share information and pictures, but it pays to be mindful of your audience.

Share too much information in your Facebook account and at the very worst you risk having your identity stolen and used for nefarious purposes by organised crime syndicates. Admit too many unknown people into your circle of Facebook friends and you could even attract a cyber-stalker who can find out everything they need to know to come knocking on your door just by reading your Facebook profile. So be careful what you share.

If you think you have already shared too much you can go back and edit your profile.

Your family and friends in the real world know where you live and work, your phone number and email address, so is it really necessary to share all that? If your Facebook page is a corporate one than perhaps it is.

Talking of corporate use of Facebook, remember that employers and would-be employers can, and have, used the site to keep track of employees and potential staff. Someone in public relations, for example, might be expected to have photographs of classy parties on their Facebook page and could bode well with that next job application. However posting photographs of a party where you ended up intoxicated, and doing stupid things, might not help your career. Posting defamatory comments about your employer on your wall certainly won’t, and could lead to dismissal. Even if your boss isn’t your Facebook friend a wrongly configured page could lead him to read it or someone else could copy your comments to him.

To edit your profile log in to Facebook and click on the Home tab in the top right of the page. To the left you will see your name with the words Edit My Profile below it next to your profile picture. Click on Edit My Profile to change information in the Current City and Home Town fields as well as information on your sex, birthday, whether you are interested in men or women and the languages you speak.

Think wisely about your profile picture, as others will have access to it. If you’re uncomfortable about your mugshot appearing somewhere it shouldn’t use another picture. A silver fern, for example.

Featured People, also on the left, allows you to tell the world your relationship status and what Facebook friends you have relationships with, whether it’s a spouse, parent, sibling, cousin and so on. This information can be seen by Facebook friends too.
Next is Education and Work where there is space for employers, present and past, as well as colleges and schools.

Philosophy has space for religious and political views, as well as people who inspire you and favourite quotations.
You can list your favourite books, games, movies, music and television shows, under Arts and Entertainment, which might seem fairly innocuous but Facebook will use this to deliver targeted advertising to you. Be careful where you buy from as some websites which advertise through Facebook, such as ozentertainmentshop.com, may appear to be in Australia selling legitimate goods but in fact ships bootlegged DVDs from China
Sports you play, favourite teams and athletes appear under the sports category and you can list activities and interests under another category.

Your contact information, listed under the last category, is one you might want to think about the most. List your phone number and email address and risk getting direct marketing calls and spam in your email inbox. If it’s a corporate Facebook page, however, it could drum up business too.