5 Tips for Maintaining Privacy on Facebook

Facebook's privacy policies have been changing a lot lately, concerning many. Some fear that they no longer have true privacy on Facebook, and a number of users have deleted or deactivated their Facebook accounts as a way of protesting the website's actions. While account deletion is a way of maintaining one's privacy, there are some less severe ways of maintaining privacy on Facebook. In this article, I share five tips for making sure that you have the level of privacy that you want on Facebook.

Facebook Privacy Tip #1 - Limit What You Put On Facebook
No one can exploit information that you don't share on Facebook. If you don't want people to know your birthday, your current location, or your phone number, don't put it on Facebook. Embarrassing photos? Don't put them up, or ask your friends to take them down. This is one of the easiest ways to maintain your privacy on Facebook.

Facebook Privacy Tip #2 - Limit Your Friends
Many Facebook users have Facebook friends numbering in the hundreds. Some even reach the thousands. Realistically, how many of those people can an individual interact with? If you only accept the Facebook friendship of closer friends, your information will be much more contained, and your privacy will be retained more easily.

Facebook Privacy Tip #3 - Comb Through The Privacy Settings
Go through the Facebook privacy settings regularly and make sure that they are what you want them to be. These often change with the addition of new Facebook features, so you will want to look at them on perhaps a monthly basis. It's inconvenient, yes, but it can spare you an even bigger headache if a change occurs and you aren't aware. It's worthwhile to note that there are numerous privacy settings, so you will want to make sure that you are thorough if you want to maintain privacy on Facebook.

Facebook Privacy Tip #4 - Classify Your Friends
Putting friends into groups, such as "Family" and "Coworkers" makes maintaining your privacy on Facebook a lot easier. You can change your privacy settings so that some groups can't see what you post, or you can limit what profile information certain groups see. This is a good option if, for example, you have strong political or religious views that you would prefer certain individuals (i.e. a boss, a family member of the opposite opinion) didn't see, but would still like to express your views on Facebook.

Facebook Privacy Tip #5 - Be Aware of Changes
As of late, Facebook's privacy settings have been changing a lot. It's important to be aware of changes that occur so that you can evaluate what you want to do. There are numerous options: removing a lot of your Facebook content, adapting to new privacy policies, or deleting your Facebook entirely. If you don't know that these changes take place, however, your information may be at risk and your privacy on Facebook may be compromised.

Ultimately, staying informed will allow you to make the best decision and prevent your private information from leaking on Facebook. If you have any further suggestions for maintaining Facebook privacy, feel free to share them in the comments section below. Thank you for reading!